


The Menagerie

by Kavi



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anger, Beating, Blood, Dehumanization, Doffy is not OOC at all, Donquixote Doflamingo Being an Asshole, Explicit Sexual Content, Graphic Description, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Interrogation, Law is maybe a little OOC, Luffy also is maybe a little OOC, M/M, Manhandling, Mild Gore, Molestation, Non-Consensual Groping, Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Consensual Touching, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other: See Story Notes, Panic Attacks, Rape, Self-Harm, Starvation (mention), Swearing, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threats of Violence, Torture, Violence, Violent Sex, circus AU, it's more circus than not, oh yeah and some people don't have devil fruits, well it's kind of a circus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:13:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16127810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kavi/pseuds/Kavi
Summary: Law is stolen from his sterile life and thrust into a bizarre world where those who are different are locked away to be gawked at, their misery used as a perverse form of entertainment. People who have bitten from the devil's fruit are a special treasure, prized for their oddity. Law meets Luffy, a young man far from his home and resigned to a life as someone else's plaything, and the two form a special bond through iron bars. But can they escape the darkness of the Menagerie, and the shadow of its depraved ringmaster?WARNING: there will be rape in this fic! So please read the tags carefully.





	1. Chosen

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey hey! Welcome to my circus AU fic! There are a few major changes from canon that I think are important to note, so I will list them here:
> 
> \- Some characters do not have devil fruit powers, while others do. It will become explicitly clear as time goes on, so until then you can consider it a fun guessing game wink wonk  
> \- The world this is set in is vaguely One Piece, but there aren't any pirates in the story. The era and technology is pretty similar to the world of One Piece, while also taking inspiration from the real world Golden Age of Piracy in the 17th to 18th century. Obviously there are some exceptions to this (COUGH kairouseki COUGH) but hey that's the One Piece part right?  
> \- Some characters (Luffy and Law) may seem a little OOC because of their situations. I tried to make em as close to canon expressed emotions as possible but nobody's perfect. Also canon Law only expresses like four emotions (stoic, stoic, stoic, and stoic) so cut me some slack. Anyway I hope you like the boys, and I promise they'll get more in character as the story progresses. They just might seem OOC starting out.
> 
> ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE is that there will be rape in this fic. If this is triggering to you at all, I recommend either not reading this fic, or proceeding with caution. I will be putting warnings at the beginning of each chapter listing major triggers, so everyone please read and heed them. 
> 
> With that out of the way, enjoy the fic!
> 
> Also, big thanks to Nerdya, my beta reader!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Law gets the absolute shit kicked out of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER WARNINGS:  
> \- threats of rape  
> \- threats of bodily harm  
> \- violence  
> \- interrogation

Law caught the next blow with his jaw, crashing bodily into the floor of the dingy, dimly lit room. The stone cooled his unstruck cheek, and he had hardly moved to get up when he was given a vicious kick just below the ribcage. Coughing and curling around himself protectively, Law felt a hand seize his hair, and was mercilessly hauled up to view his tormentors.

All three were mostly in shadow due to the poor lighting, but Law caught glimpses of their appearance as they crowded around him. One seemed to have yellowish hair, while another was enormously tall, at least a foot taller than his companions. When the third and final brute turned his head, Law could glimpse what looked like a gold tooth in the light of the scattered and few wall sconces. It was Yellow Hair who spoke to him now, shaking the beaten man violently by his hair.

“I’m gonna ask you again, shithead,” the man growled into Law’s face. Law could feel the man’s breath on his skin, hot and rancid, almost like that of a wild animal. He narrowed his eyes at the stench.

“What,” Yellow Hair shook Law again. “Is your fruit?”

Law glared at the ugly motherfucker defiantly. “I told you,” he said through clenched teeth, his scalp starting to ache. “I don’t have one.”

The man threw him away and Law landed heavily on his elbow, causing a shock of nerve pain to vibrate down his arm. As Law lay on the cold stone, clutching his injured limb, Yellow Hair scoffed and kicked at him.

“You can’t fool us that easily, you dumb fuck! Now we’ve just gotta find out the hard way.”

Law froze and looked up at his captor. His blood ran cold at the crazed grin glistening on the man’s face.

Before Law could make a move, Gold Tooth and his tall friend had fallen upon him, seizing Law’s arms and hauling the captive to his knees. Law tried to struggle, but the combination of his captors’ strength and his own beaten body proved too potent for the restrained man. All he could do was wiggle weakly in their grasp, while they laughed cruelly at his struggles.

“Wha--” Law couldn’t finish his sentence because Yellow Hair’s fist connected squarely with his diaphragm, knocking the breath from him in an instant. His eyes were flooded by reflexive tears as he tried in vain to fill his lungs with air. He heard the laughter of his torturers faintly, drowned out by a rush of blood in his ears. Wheezing and coughing, Law felt his face being grabbed before another blow struck his cheekbone, sending him reeling and falling lax in the hands of his enemies. Blooms of white appeared in his vision, overlapping themselves like a field of yarrow. The metallic taste of blood seeped into Law’s mouth and down his chin, tickling his beard as it dripped to the floor.

Eventually, Law’s vision returned, and he looked up slowly, sagging in his fettered position. Standing before him, the yellow-haired man looked dispassionately down at Law’s dazed form, and his harsh voice filled the empty cell of a room.

“So you’re not immune to punches, huh?” he mused. “I guess we _do_ have one of those already.”

Law blinked at the man. What was he... ? Oh. Devil fruit. Right.

“I really don’t have one,” Law repeated, his voice tired. “I swea--”

He was cut off by a hand connecting with the back of his head, slapping it forward and down so he was looking at the ground. The tall man who’d hit him brought his hand back to Law’s arm, and the captive felt the grip tighten. He smiled bitterly. It wasn't like he was in a position to fight back against them. He never had been, even before taking this beating. He would have shaken his head if not for the punishment he knew would follow such a gesture. Snatched off the streets by these lunatics and beaten to death. Body never found, probably. What a stupid way to die.

There was a _schick_ sound from in front of him. Law raised his head.

A knife. Its blade gleamed and danced in the flickering light, wearing the aggressive colors of flame. Law eyed it warily, his gaze moving from the glittering tip of the blade to its hilt, following the curve of the hand and arm holding it up to where Yellow Hair peered at him, a sick smile on his face.

Law looked again at the blade, and felt his heart drop. If there were any doubt before, it was gone now. His body would _definitely_ never be found. 

“If you’re not immune to punches,” the yellow-haired man mused, raising the dagger slowly to his face. Watching Law’s expression turn from alarm to horror, he stuck his tongue out to gently lick the edge of the blade. 

“Then maybe,” he continued, approaching Law and stroking the captive’s cheek when he tried to recoil with a yelp. 

“Just maybe.” The knife came to rest on Law’s other cheek. 

“You’re immune to knives.” The man cocked his head, a wicked smile splitting his face. 

“There’s only one way to find out, right?”

Law was petrified, but as he felt the knife beginning to move on his cheek, he jolted violently backwards and away from the wretched thing and its wielder. He began struggling in earnest, seeing visions of himself as nothing but bloody chunks of flesh in a bag. Thrown in the river. Gone forever, a pile of dripping gore his only remains.

“NO! NONONONO PLEASE DON’T, DON’T KILL ME OHGODPLEASE--”

“Hold him tighter!” Yellow hair yelled at the other two men, who were trying desperately to maintain their grip on the thrashing prisoner.

“I’m sorry!” the tall man yelled. “He’s just so fucking--!” 

Law was still yelling as he was struck in the temple by something harder than flesh. Dazed, he stopped struggling, the men on either side of him redoubling their hold now that he was still. Before him, the yellow-haired man was still aiming the pommel of his dagger at Law in case he made another move. Seeing Law visibly droop in the tightened hold, Yellow Hair sighed and moved forward again.

“Just shut him up this time.”

Law’s eyes widened as the blade grew nearer and nearer, opening his mouth to yell again. A sweaty hand was instantly pressed over his mouth, and he was reduced to helplessly whimpering through his nose as Yellow Hair drew closer.

Light slid over the sharp edge of the blade, dripping down its side like liquid fire. Law screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the sensation of his skin splitting apart. He himself had performed this same act on so many dead things in his studies. He knew the motions. Slice through the skin cleanly with a scalpel, the cut straight and bloodless. Pry that skin apart, peer at the insides. He knew exactly how it felt to cut flesh, how it looked, how it sounded--

The blade kissed his cheek. Law froze, his mind going blank. He couldn’t even bring himself to close his eyes.

“Bellamy.”

A firm voice cut its way through Law’s whimpering, and in an instant the yellow-haired man--Bellamy--pulled his knife away from Law and straightened up, turning to face the visitor, who spoke again.

“You’re making a terrible racket in here. What’s going on?”

The voice was firm and yet sounded slightly disinterested, tone low and measured. Law watched Bellamy’s back with unfocused eyes as the man took a few steps towards whoever had stumbled upon the scene.

Law’s head was spinning. He’d been hit so many times he hardly remembered what these fuckers had even been asking him. His head was throbbing in pain, the ache building behind his eyes. He was probably concussed. Blood trickled from his nostrils in a steady stream. His lip was also bleeding, the air making the split in it sting. It felt like his temple might also be starting to bleed, where it had been struck by the dagger’s pommel.

Law winced as a wave of pain rippled through his head. He’d always known he would die eventually, but he hadn’t thought it would be quite so violent. He really was going to be beaten to a pulp at this rate. And it’s not like he would leave anyone behind after his death, Law thought idly, trying to focus his eyes. He didn’t have any family left, and no close friends. No one would even come looking for him, probably. How pathetic.

Law frowned as his dazed eyes caught onto a glint of light reflecting off the blade of the knife still in Bellamy’s hand. Like a bolt of lightning, his mind cleared, eyes shooting open and honing in on the edge of that blade. A pulse of primal energy rippled through Law, banishing those thoughts that had already surrendered and flooding his muscles with a fierce resolve. 

He wasn’t dead yet.

There was a strangled yell from the man holding Law’s right arm as the captive viciously sank his teeth into the meaty palm of the hand over his mouth. The man--Gold Tooth--released Law immediately, whipping his hand back. Startled by his companion’s shout, the tall man on Law’s left relaxed his grip and without hesitation Law lunged forward, breaking the weakened hold.

He couldn’t quite catch himself as he pitched forward, landing in a crumpled heap on the stone. Desperation still coursing through his veins, Law struggled back to his knees. He crawled forward in unsteady lurching movements, though his mind was racing like a courser. The newcomer. That was his only hope. Maybe the man could help him. 

He tilted his chin up to see the newcomer, while beginning to babble a string of frantic words.

“Oh thank god please help me they’re gonna--”

A swift kick to the ribs sent Law flying into the wall of the stone room, smacking against the brick before falling heavily to the floor. Opening his eyes a crack, Law caught a glimpse of Bellamy as the man lowered his foot back to the ground. The newcomer stood beyond Bellamy, but when Law tried to focus on anything past a pair of pointy shoes and hairy legs, his head gave a hard throb. Bellamy blocked his view, walking closer to the prone man and coming to a stop, standing over Law with a foot on either side of the man’s body.

“Sorry about that, Boss.” Law let out a yelp as Bellamy grabbed his victim’s arms and twisted them cruelly behind Law’s back. The restrained man felt his captor’s weight thump onto his back harshly as Bellamy sat on him to keep him down. Law could practically hear his bruised ribs creaking under the strain. Wincing, he let his eyes fall shut. From above him, Bellamy gave a wry and throaty chuckle.

“Fucker’s been nothing but trouble.”

Law’s poor, battered head was spinning, his body pinned firmly to the harsh stone as he stared into the not-quite darkness of his eyelids.. Had Bellamy said “Boss”? This man was their boss? Great, just great. There was his only chance of escape out the fucking window. If this new man was their boss, he’d probably join in on their little torture party. Maybe he’d brought some tools with him. 

Law’s head gave a mighty throb as his panicked heart pushed more and more blood through his veins. He was so fucked.

There was a pause, and Law wondered if Bellamy’s boss was taking in the carnage around him. Law could only imagine that his blood was everywhere in this tiny, godforsaken dungeon. Spattered on the rough-hewn stones of the floor. Sprayed across the walls as punch after punch ruptured the blood vessels in his nose. Hell, there was probably some speckled on the ceiling as well. Law couldn't find the strength or will to force his eyes open to look.

Finally, the boss spoke.

“So. Who exactly is this man?”

“A fruitie!” Bellamy said excitedly. “Sir Vergo told us, so we nabbed him. But the fucker won’t tell us his fruit. He keeps saying he doesn’t even have any powers!”

“Hmm.”

Law could feel the man’s eyes on him and he almost shivered at the intensity. There was a weight to that gaze, and it made Law feel uneasy, like he was being memorized. To his alarm, he heard a rustle and the clicking of shoes swiftly crossing the room. Law forced his eyes open and practically gaped at the figure standing above him.

The man was gigantic, towering above Law’s prone and pinned body. He wore a coat covered entirely in the pink feathers of some exotic bird, which fluttered in an undetectable breeze even as the man himself stood still. The striped half-pants might have looked silly on someone less imposing, but as it was, they suited the giant wearing them just fine, making his long legs appear even longer. As the man stooped, the small golden hoops adorning his earlobes caught the light, matching his cropped blond hair momentarily. Coming to a crouch near Law’s face, the man settled and watched the battered captive intently through a pair of rose-tinted lenses. Law felt more bound in place by the stare of this chilling man than by Bellamy’s weight on his back.

The huge feathered man regarded Law for a long moment before finally speaking.

“I’m going to ask you this question once, and you are going to answer me honestly.”

Law stared at the huge man, terror beginning to creep up on him. He had never seen anything more frightening than this man crouching before him now. Something unsettling exuded from the feathered man--an aura of malice. Law knew intuitively that if he crossed this man, he would spend a long time in pain before he finally died with a whimper on his lips. This huge man was capable of unspeakable acts. 

Not knowing what else to do in reply to the man’s statement, Law gave a nod, scraping his chin against the stone floor as he did so. Seeming satisfied, the imposing feathered man asked:

“Do you have a devil fruit power?”

Law stared steadily into the man’s lenses, pushing aside his unease.

“I don’t.”

His voice was firm, earnest, and it resounded around the small room. Law held his face still, hardly breathing. He wondered wildly if his interrogator could see the desperation blazing behind his eyes. 

The man in the pink feathered jacket watched him carefully for one moment more before giving a brisk nod. 

“Then you’re useless to me,” he said plainly. He looked to Bellamy. “Kill him.”

The huge man rose in a single, fluid motion and retreated towards the door, leaving Law reeling as though the air had once again been punched from him by the man’s words. He could hardly breathe, unable to believe the words he had half-expected to hear. Was he really going to die? All he’d done up until now had led to this? 

Bellamy cackled from his place on Law’s back, and he dangled his knife gleefully in front of the prisoner’s face. 

“Guess we get to use this after all,” Bellamy purred, sliding the blade’s edge up Law’s cheek like a shaving razor in reverse. 

Ignoring Bellamy and the knife, Law found that he could only focus on the feathered man’s receding back, getting further away with every step. His vision was narrowed, seeing only pink, pink, pink, mind disengaged from the horror wracking his body. Words left his mouth on a wave of wild desperation, surging forward.

“WAIT! YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS! I WON’T TELL ANYONE! JUST LET ME GO! PLEASE!”

Law’s scream rang through the air and the feathered man paused before the door. Bellamy also stopped what he was doing, and he and the other two men looked to their boss. Law was panting, blood pumping through his battered head with such strength that he felt a little lightheaded. Was it possible that the man was going to listen to him? Was he going to--?

The feathered man’s shoulders began shaking, and then a sinister chuckle began to emanate from him. Law felt his blood go cold, numbness beginning to creep into his limbs.

The feathered man whirled around, the lenses of his glasses glinting wickedly. He stalked towards Law. 

“Do you have any idea who you’re talking to, boy?” 

Bellamy let out a cry as he was pushed off of Law. The man in the feather coat swooped upon the prisoner and before Law could blink, he was in the man’s arms, a knife at his throat. His back was pressed to the man’s bare chest, and Law became aware that his captor’s skin was quite cool. Like a snake, and he a sparrow, heartbeat fluttering against the knife pressed to his jugular. He closed his eyes, trying not to move into the sharp edge.

Law felt a puff of air against his ear and neck as the man enveloping him began to speak.

“My name is DonQuixote Doflamingo,” he hissed against Law’s skin. “Perhaps you’ve heard of my Menagerie?” 

Law’s eyes shot open at those words.

“What?” he breathed weakly. “That’s...that’s just a myth…”

The man behind him--Doflamingo--chuckled. “It’s as real as you and I, my little fool. As real as this knife.”

Law gasped as the underside of his jaw was nicked by the blade, drops of blood welling at the edges of the cut. A long tongue darted out from behind Law’s ear and lapped at the wound. Law shuddered in disgust and Doflamingo chuckled once he’d pulled his tongue back, able to feel Law’s reaction against his chest. 

“You’re fun, but unfortunately you’re no use to me without a fruit power,” Doflamingo tutted, feigning regret. “I only collect freaks, you see, and you seem quite…ordinary.”

Keeping the knife pressed to Law’s throat, Doflamingo’s other hand slid lower to rub against his captive’s abdomen. Law shifted uncomfortably at the touch. What was he--

“I’m afraid I can’t let you go free either, little bird,” the huge man crooned, caressing Law’s skin. His voice turned husky. “I want your body.”

Alarm jolted through Law’s veins. No, not that. Eyes wide, Law found he could feel nothing over the sensation of Doflamingo’s fingers stroking against his body, and he was struck by an overwhelming need to escape that touch. So powerful was the urge to get away that Law unthinkingly tried to wrench away from those long fingers, heedless of the knife at his throat. Doflamingo pulled the weapon away at the last moment, saving Law from slitting his own throat open on the blade. The huge man wrapped an arm around Law’s chest and pulled him back roughly, squeezing the shorter man to his body. Law’s hands shot up the arm, scrabbling at it in a vain effort to pry it from around his chest.

“Whoa there, I didn’t mean it that way, pervert,” Doflamingo chuckled, unfazed by Law’s weak struggles. “I already have a whore. What I really need,” he placed his hands back on Law’s abdomen, drumming his fingers against the flesh through Law’s shirt, “are more goods for my organ market.”

Law went white as a sheet. He stared blankly at the jeering faces of Bellamy and his cronies. He really was going to be killed. He’d be lucky if they killed him before they started ripping out his organs. Law could imagine the room drenched in his blood, and the men stooped over his lifeless body. They’d pull his organs out one by one, discarding clumps of tissue. Viscera would glisten on the ground, stripped from the dead shell that once held it. Law wondered dully if they’d take his eyes, too. 

Even if anyone came looking for him, there would be no point after these sick bastards had their fun. There wouldn’t even be much of a body left to bury.

“Here you go, boys!” Doflamingo crowed, releasing his captive and stepping back. Unsupported, Law fell to his knees on the stone floor. It was over.

As the feathered man walked away, Law heard him call over his shoulder:

“Oh, and if you wanna use him before taking him apart, feel free. He looks like he’s got a tight ass.”

“No…” Law whispered, even as rough hands grasped him, touching his chest, his back, creeping lower. The men around him were snickering, pulling at the thin shirt he wore. With a terrible rending sound, the shirt was torn in two, and Law felt the air hit the bare skin on his back. He clutched the remnants of the shirt to his chest, trying to keep as much of himself covered as he could. 

“No, no,” Law repeated, fear and shame gripping his body as the men pawed at him. Gripping the single scrap of fabric to his chest, he hunched over and started to cry, sobs wracking his jostled body.

“Wait!”

Everyone froze at Doflamingo’s barked command. Law felt the three underlings step away from him, but didn’t register it, still sobbing gently. Tears dripped from his eyes, diluting the blood on the ground that had fallen from his nose. He heard the _click clack_ of Doflamingo’s shoes drawing nearer, but couldn’t bear to open his eyes until he’d been wrenched to his feet by the gigantic man.

Law’s torn shirt was pulled from his hands, and Doflamingo stared openly at the tattoos covering Law’s body. Law could feel the man’s eyes running over his skin, looking at his chest, his arms. The feathered man held Law’s hands almost reverently, looking at the designs and lettering previously obscured by Bellamy’s pinning grip. Doflamingo stalked around Law, examining his back tattoo. His gaze felt like a drill on Law’s skin, and the captive shivered at the tingle that accompanied the intense stare. He felt like an object being appraised.

Coming back around to the front of Law, Doflamingo extended a single long finger to touch Law’s chest, tracing a swirl of ink over the man’s pectoral muscle. Law flinched at the contact. His mind was racing, whirling, throbbing. Maybe Doflamingo had changed his mind and was going to rape Law himself after all, instead of just watching his goons do it. Law bit his lip.

Doflamingo crooked a finger beneath Law’s chin, tilting it up to look him in the eye. Law stared steadily into those pink lenses, seeing his own battered and bruised reflection looking back at him.

Doflamingo cracked a wide grin.

“Those are some tattoos. Not so ordinary after all, huh?” He chuckled and caressed Law’s cheek, seeming to drink in the terror in the other man’s eyes. “Maybe I _could_ use a freak like you.”

He directed his next words to Bellamy and the others, eyes never leaving the half-naked, bloody, and trembling Law.

“Take him to the Cages.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! This fic will update sporadically but I'll do my best to have the next chapter up as soon as possible!
> 
> じゃなあ~


	2. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Law becomes acquainted with his new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohohoho well would you look at that, a chapter posted so soon after the first! Well I'm on a break from classes so I stayed up all night to bring you this. Also, I worked all weekend to plot this entire damn fic out, so it is basically fully plotted! We're looking at around 15 chapters and an epilogue, though that number is subject to change because I have a habit of extending things. 
> 
> Anyway enjoy this fairly mild chapter! 
> 
> A big thank you to my beta-reader, Nerdya!
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS:  
> \- Violence  
> \- Mention of wounds  
> \- Unhygienic conditions  
> \- Mild self-harm

Disoriented by the overwhelming sensations of terror and pain, Law was manhandled past Doflamingo and out into a cold, dark passage. The men gripping him seemed unbothered by the blackness, pulling Law along so quickly that the injured man lost his footing. His knees crashed onto the ground, but Bellamy and his cronies were relentless, swearing and kicking at him until he shakily stood up, bare feet growing numb on the rough stone.

Eventually the blackness he was dragged through lightened, and Law became aware that the texture of the ground had changed. The cold stone gave way to something that felt almost like fabric. Some sort of tarp perhaps? The hard ground was still easy to feel beneath whatever it was, and Law stubbed his toe against a protruding rock that was scarcely disguised by the thin floor. His yelp earned him a punch from Bellamy, and Law spent the rest of the journey in a haze of pain. He was dimly aware that they were passing by what seemed like lanterns, and in their light he thought he saw bright colors arching skywards, but couldn’t find the energy to look closer before he was whisked away. 

They finally stopped after passing through another strange sort of corridor, and Law came to the slow realization that the walls around them now were not stone like his torture room had been. One of Bellamy’s thugs released Law and he sagged, lacking any energy to fight back. The man lit a lantern off to the left, and began rummaging in a box, his cast shadow long and tall against the strange, striped wall. Following a thick reddish strip up the arch of the white wall, Law saw that the fabric formed a roof as well, joining with the other walls in a tall peak held up by a thick wooden pole and ropes stretching across the open air above them. Law blinked. A tent? 

He didn’t have time to dwell on it, as the sound of metal clicking against metal snatched his attention away. No sooner was he able to register the large iron cage on his right side than he found himself shoved into it, tripping over the bottom lip of the door. Law turned on his side as he fell, landing heavily on the cold metal bottom of the cage. Groaning, he heard the door clang shut behind him, a key twisting in the lock. The shadows cast by the bars striped across Law’s body, and he couldn’t help feeling that they were dividing him into pieces.

The torchlight drew nearer, and a roll of bandages landed softly next to Law’s head. 

“Patch yourself up for Doffy, swirly.” Bellamy’s voice pierced Law’s aching head like an awl, and he turned to look at the men standing outside his prison. Bellamy seemed to sense Law’s discomfort, and he clanged the cage’s key between two bars, making a horrible racket that reverberated through the metal surrounding the injured captive. Law cried out and covered his ears, rolling over. 

Through his palms, Law heard Bellamy say something inaudible, followed by a muffled laugh. The flickering lantern light faded from the floor around Law’s body, receding back the way they’d come. 

Law was left alone in the darkness, cold and in pain. 

He groaned softly, the warmth of his body being leached away by the frigid metal beneath him. Forcing himself to move before he’d die of hypothermia, Law rolled onto his stomach, bringing his knees forward and slowly climbing to his feet, snagging the roll of bandages roughly as he moved. Testing his prison, Law raised his arms above his head and found that the top of the cage was just barely within his reach. This prison seemed bigger than he’d thought. Stretching an arm around him blindly, his fingertips brushed against a wall of bars. Wrapping his fingers around the cool iron, Law braced himself against it for a moment, controlling his breath. Trapped in the cold darkness was never a good place to be, let alone after being thoroughly worked over by sadistic brutes. Closing his eyes rather pointlessly, Law forced himself to breathe in deeply through his nose, wincing at the twinge his bruised ribs gave him.

Letting out the breath, Law opened his eyes, met with the same darkness he’d left. He grimaced and turned around, leaning his back against the hard metal. He had a moment of irrational fear that something would grab him through the bars, but shook his head to clear away the thought. The last thing he needed right now was to panic. 

Backing up against the bars, Law stared into the darkness that was the inside of his prison. He clenched his jaw, gathering his dwindling strength. It was important to get his bearings, to see what he had to work with. The cold was creeping up on him, and Law knew that if he spent the night on the cold floor of the cage in his condition, he could very well be dead by morning. Maybe there was a hay pallet or some other crude form of bedding in here?

Law pushed off the bars, taking one long step into the gloom. One. He took another step, arms outstretched, reaching blindly for the bars he knew must be there. Two. On his third step, Law’s fingernails scraped across rough metal, making a low rasping noise. Eager to be out of the dark emptiness of the cage’s center, Law’s breathing quickened and he jolted forward, wrapping a hand around the bars. He pulled himself into them a little too quickly and his nose exploded in pain as it connected with the metal.

Immediately, Law jumped back with an ungainly squeal, clutching at his injured nose. Sure enough, the impact had reopened the internal wound, and Law felt blood begin to pour down his upper lip. He cursed and pinched his nostrils shut, then froze.

He had heard something in the darkness of the cell. Something like a soft sigh.

Eyes wide, Law stared into the dark, unseeing. He held his breath. 

There was nothing.

Hesitantly, he called out. “Is someone there?”

Silence. Law listened hard, thoughts racing. What was he going to do if there was someone in the cell with him? Would they attack him? How was he going to defend himself? Time plowed on, heedless of Law’s frantic thoughts and it was several long seconds before he’d worked up the courage to ask again.

“Hello?” 

Still nothing.

It didn’t seem like there was anyone there after all. He was safe. Law was about to let out a sigh of his own when there was a sudden huff in the darkness and a voice drifted through the air, making him stiffen.

“Yeah, I’m here. Will you shut up now?”

Quiet and undoubtedly irritated, the voice seemed to be tempered with something like resignation. It was accented as well, like glass with unground edges. Smooth in the center and sharp everywhere else. Dangerous. Untouchable. Straining his eyes against the darkness, Law gazed in the direction the voice had come from, beyond the bars which he had unwittingly walked into. The other person was not in the same cage as he was.

“Okay,” Law said softly, pulling himself together despite his rapid heartbeat and looking searchingly into the blackness of the other cell. He couldn’t see anything or anyone.

“Good,” the disembodied voice said with an air of finality. Law heard a sound like blankets rustling, accompanied by another sound he couldn’t quite place. He frowned. Was that…wicker? His curiosity was quickly pushed aside by the full realization of the more important of his observations. Blankets.

Feeling the cold crawling up his legs, Law put a hand on the bars and slowly moved with them, doing his best to keep quiet. He didn’t want to piss off the owner of that sharp, glassy voice. Following the bars proved fortuitous, as Law’s chilled bare feet pushed against something distinctly not metal on the floor in the opposite corner of the cage. Law crouched down, hands confirming what he’d suspected. He had blankets of his own.

Once he’d burrowed into the scratchy blankets--which were tightly knit from wool and immediately warmed him--Law set to work attempting to dress his wounds. It didn’t take long to grasp that the roll of bandages wasn’t going to be particularly useful against Law’s colorful collection of injuries. The gauzy strips of fabric would do nothing for the bruises or split lip, let alone the concussion Law was certain he had sustained. The best he could do for that was just try not to get hit in the head again. That meant staying away from Bellamy, Law thought grimly. He’d need to watch out for that particular shithead.

Law settled for wadding up part of the bandages to stick in each of his bleeding nostrils, wrapping another length of it awkwardly around the circumference of his face in an attempt to cover the cut Doflamingo had given him just under his jaw. He knew it wouldn’t do much good without some sort of salve but it was the best he could do for now.

Exhausted, Law curled up in the blankets on the floor of his cage and started to nod off. The events of the day were stacking up on his mind, crushing it into submission. Law gave in to the weight, sinking into a deep and dreamless sleep.

\---

He awoke to the clacking of something against metal. Sitting bolt upright, adrenaline immediately rushing through him, Law looked wildly around the room like a frightened animal. The ill-secured bandage covering the cut on his chin had fallen off during the night, and Law felt the two plugs of gauze in his nostrils give way as he sat up, tumbling down his chest and into the gathered blanket folds.

As he frantically blinked the sleep from his eyes, the first thing he became aware of was that it was light, and the observation gave him pause. For the first time, he could see the interior of his prison in full detail. It was indeed just a large square cage, as if for holding some large beast. The floor was a solid iron plate, and the only furnishings in the room were the blankets Law lay in, a woven grass mat near the door, and a large tin bucket in the corner, which Law eyed suspiciously. If that was for what Law thought it was for, he thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t knocked it over last night in his blind exploration. 

Having given the floor of the cell a cursory glance, Law turned his attention higher. The four walls of the cage were comprised of thick vertical bars, looking to have a diameter of about an inch and a half, which extended from the top of the cage to the bottom. The roof of the prison seemed to be made of those same bars, crisscrossed, but was covered by what looked like a canvas tarp. The covering also draped over the left hand side of Law’s cage, making what filtered daylight there was even more dim. Following the folds of the canvas above him, Law saw that the same dropcloth was covering the tops of both his cage and the one adjacent.

When Law’s gaze moved from the makeshift roof of the adjacent cage down to its interior, he was startled to find a pair of large, dark eyes watching him. Reclining propped up against the opposite wall of bars, the occupant of the other cage watched Law quietly. Young and lanky, he wore a tattered pair of blue shorts, but no shirt. His tanned skin was stretched smoothly over lean muscle, chasing itself up and down slender limbs. The young man had his hands up and behind his head, splaying his elbows out to either side. He wore a straw sun hat, which crowned brown hair that was so dark it looked black. The young man’s face was rather boyish, with delicate features, cheeks wide and full. It looked like a face that was used to smiling, but the prisoner’s lips were drawn together in a straight line as he watched Law with his dark eyes. Law felt rooted to the spot by that gaze, and when the young man blinked Law noticed a stark scar curving just beneath his left eye. A close call, by the looks of it. 

The young man blinked at Law again before tilting his head back and reaching a hand to the front of his hat, lowering the brim so his eyes were obscured. The motion revealed a bracelet curving around the man’s slim wrist. Despite the dim light, Law thought he could discern a subtle blue sheen in the metal of the bracelet. Strange.

Law stared at the young man in the cage next to him, feeling like he was somehow still being watched despite those penetrating eyes being covered. Turning his gaze to the ground between them with a shiver, he blinked before looking closer at the bars separating him from his neighbor. To his surprise, it was just one set of bars. Law looked again at the unmoving figure beyond the wall of iron. They weren’t in separate cages, then. It appeared to be just one, with a single set of bars down the middle. 

Furrowing his brows, Law snapped his head around to the front of his cage when he heard conversation and footsteps drawing near. Two men walked past, talking loudly and laughing. Law scrambled forward, getting tangled in the blankets in his haste. He kicked them off, and lurched to the bars of the door, making it clang against its frame noisily. Trying in vain to shove his head in between the bars, Law called after the two men.

“Hey!” Law yelled, squinting as he tried to look around the corner of the canvas that was curtaining the wall of his cage. “Hey! Wait! There’s been a mistake!”

The men ignored him. Law sagged against the bars and withdrew from them slowly, kneeling in front of the door. Hands still outstretched, his clenching grip on the bars loosened. How was he supposed to get out of this place?

Staring at the point where the cage door met its base, Law noticed a wooden bowl on the floor next to him. He stared at it. Water. A bowl of water. 

Law seized the bowl, thoughtlessly sloshing some of it onto his bare chest. He had taken several deep draughts before realizing that he should save some to clean his wounds. Setting the bowl down carefully so as not to spill any more, Law wiped his mouth, spotting something else on the ground next to the bowl. 

A hunk of stale, crusty bread.

Law narrowed his eyes at the food. His lips pressed together into a thin line, and he stood up to retrieve the roll of bandages on the other side of the cage, not giving the lump of bread a second glance.

\---

By the time the daylight had dimmed and the lanterns had been lit, Law had finished scouring the inside of his cage for weaknesses. He had tapped every iron bar, examined it from top to bottom, tested every joint for a flaw in the solder, and had found nothing. Incredibly, there wasn’t a lick of rust on the damn thing that Law could see. The door was fastened by a thick iron latch, secured with a hefty padlock. After making sure no one was passing by, Law had reached his arm through the bars in an attempt to get a better look at the front of the lock. The angle was awkward, and when Law had seen the complicated shape of the keyhole, he was forced to retract his arm in defeat. He couldn’t pick that lock even if he had anything to do it with.

Law leaned back against the bars of his cage and sighed deeply. He supposed it was mid evening now, given the blueish tint the very top peak of the tent had taken on. Limited though his vision was from the uncovered front of the cage, Law had been able to confirm--from peering through slots in the bars and shifting parts of the canvas aside--that he was in fact in some sort of gigantic tent. From what he could tell, at its tallest peak it was about the height of five tall men stacked, the fabric held aloft by the thick pole Law had glimpsed earlier. Across from Law’s cage was some sort of workbench and stool, though Law had seen no one sitting there at any point during the day. A lantern hung from a hook jutting out of the beams that propped up the tent walls, illuminating the striped interior with a soft, orange glow. Law could only guess that this area was one of many, given the twisting corridors he had been pulled through before.

Curling his knees up closer to his chest, Law rested a forearm on top of them, and began absentmindedly tracing the design tattooed into the skin. Law’s expression took on a hardened edge, his eyebrows furrowing as he remembered how Doflamingo had touched his skin, long fingers leaving a swath of gooseflesh in their wake. Dancing along the dark blue lines etched into Law’s skin. Law’s fingers stopped their movement and after a pause he placed his palm over the design on his forearm, the tattoo on the back of his hand taking its place. He could never hide it completely, and he had made peace with that, had wanted it. Law blinked. He didn’t want to forget her. Never.

But that monster’s hands, touching what was sacred to him, tainting it-- Law closed his eyes and tilted his head back. His fingernails dug into the meat of his forearm, leaving perfect crescents in the dark flesh. 

The Menagerie. Law stared into his eyelids, trying to remember everything he’d heard about it. It was a creature of the city’s dark underbelly, carried on murmurs that grew stagnant and stinking in rain puddles, dripping through the cracks in the stonework. Even in Flevance he had heard about it. Law’s forehead creased. A bedtime story? A nursery rhyme? Something whispered among children in teasing, horrified delight. 

_The circus is here! The circus is here!_  
_Everyone come out and give a great cheer!_  
_Colorful ribbons and horns that make noise,_  
_The Menagerie brings us all new toys!_  
_In our woods up north, when the moon is new,_  
_They’ll pitch up their tents, and choose just a few._

_And if you get picked, you’d better be quick,  
Or they’ll lock you up tight for the rest of your life!_

Law’s eyes fluttered open. “The rest of my life, huh?” he muttered.

There was a rustle and Law shifted his gaze to where his strange neighbor had abruptly climbed to his feet. The hat-clad young man stretched his arms out leisurely, and now that he was standing up, Law could see that he had matching metal bracelets on all four of his limbs. The blueish metal hung from the man’s wrists and ankles like tight bangles. Or shackles. 

As Law looked on, the peculiar young man walked to the bucket in his cage and began to urinate in it, unmoved by Law’s gaze. Watching this kid who was probably only eighteen or nineteen years old walk casually across a human-sized cage to take a piss in a fucking bucket made something in Law snap.

“Hey,” he said suddenly. 

Hat man glanced over at him, and then looked pointedly down at the bucket. The noise from it filled the area beneath the tarp covering their cages. It was not unlike the sound of rain hitting a metal roof. The young man looked away from Law and hunched his shoulders.

Law wasn’t about to give up that easily. “Hey, kid,” he called, louder this time.

There was a huff and the sound of liquid hitting the inside of the tin bucket stopped. The straw-hat wearer didn’t turn around, but his voice came bouncing back to Law.

“I’m not a kid! Also, if you keep talking to me while I’m trying to piss I’m gonna pee on you instead of the bucket!” The sound of said piss resumed. 

As Law had suspected, it was the same accented voice that had scolded him last night in the dark. It had a strange edge to it, like it wanted to lilt up but was being forced flat. He smirked, not one to back down because of a threat.

“Have you ever tried to escape?” 

The other man gave an exaggerated sigh and looked skywards, cursing in a different language. He finished using the bucket and went back over to where he had been relaxing on his blankets. Giving Law one final dirty look, the young man laid down and put his hat directly over his own face.

Law sighed, running a hand through his hair. “C’mon, you’ve never tried? Not even once?” 

“Leave me alone.” The voice was muffled from beneath the hat. 

“Fine, fine,” Law threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, even though the other man couldn’t see him. “I’ll ask again later.”

“Don’t.” 

Fuck’s sake. Law sat back again and looked grumpily around the cage. He could feel a headache coming on, a dull pain building behind his eyes and at the base of his skull. Putting his hand up to rub it, he took stock of his condition. He had managed to wipe all of his wounds clean with the water, and had checked on all his bruises to make sure they were doing okay. The headache could be from his concussed head but Law prayed that it wasn’t that--it could be a death sentence in these conditions.

Just then his stomach rumbled, loud and long. There was a chuckle from under the straw hat in the other cage.

Law shot a peevish look over, before turning to the untouched lump of bread near the door, dismayed. The stale roll sat there, taunting him.

_Wouldn’t you like a taste? It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?_

His jaw clenched. Seizing the bread, Law tore it in half viciously and shoved one of the pieces into his mouth, grinding it into a pulp.

Every crumb tasted of sawdust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you in the next one!
> 
> じゃなあ~
> 
> P.S. for any concerns of Luffy being wildly OOC please reference One Piece chapters 331-334, episodes 235-236, thank u


	3. Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Law continues to meet new people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter yaaaaaay~ This one's mostly transitional, but hopefully you find it enjoyable.
> 
> Thank you as usual to my beta reader, Nerdya! 
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS:  
> \- Slapping  
> \- Description of wounds  
> \- Mild torture  
> \- Implied threat of castration  
> \- Mild molestation

The interior of Law’s cage had darkened with the steady creep of the evening, making the shadows cast by the lamp beyond the bars long and deep. Exhausted, Law was slumped up against one of the walls of his cage. The cold metal of the bars dug into him, rough edges providing a sharper pain to contrast the ache of his battered body. 

Headache having dulled, Law’s ribs hurt the worst out of everything. He had given himself a self-examination earlier when the light had been better, and had found that his abdomen was littered with bruises, some directly over his ribs. None of the bones seemed broken, thankfully, but applying any pressure on the area caused a smarting pain from the surface bruises. He only had a little bit of difficulty breathing, so if the ribs themselves were bruised, it wasn’t too severe.

The rest of Law’s wounds speckled his body in a colorful array. Bruises crawled over his skin, purple and blue blotches fanning out into shades of yellow. Along his sides and abdomen were various abrasions and scrapes from being punched and thrown against rough stone. The dark blue ink of his tattoos hid many of the marks, but Law didn’t have to see them to feel the pain they held.

The cut under his chin throbbed as Law shifted against the bars, and he winced. He’d done the best he could to clean it, but it still burned and the skin around it was inflamed. He’d resigned himself to just not touching the cut, hoping that his immune system would do the trick against the infection.

Every twinge of pain from the wound brought the swirling image of pink feathers to the surface of Law’s mind like so many boiling bubbles, rupturing any semblance of serenity. Doflamingo. 

Law frowned and pulled his legs closer to his chest, wincing as the movement stretched his bruised muscles. That man… Law didn’t want to think of him, but his mind kept crawling back to that moment in the stone room, and he could almost feel Doflamingo’s body pressed against the back of Law’s once again.

No warmth. The man had exuded no warmth, no body heat, and that was maybe more terrifying than any of the things he’d said to Law, more so than his suggestive caresses. 

It was like the man was some sort of reptile, cold blood pumping through his veins.

Law gave a visceral shudder, shaking his head in an attempt to remove those cold fingers from where they slithered across his skin. 

He looked up and across the cage, through the bars. The light of the lamp outside illuminated his neighbor, shadows laying heavy over the straw hat sitting on the floor. The young man sat cross-legged beside it, seemingly absorbed in playing with his hands. As Law watched, the guy took the tips of two of his fingers in his other hand and pulled on them. Law squinted at him.

The young man did nothing but baffle Law. After refusing to talk, he had spent most of the day dozing while Law stubbornly double- and triple-checked every bar in his cage for flaws that he could use to escape. Law had been wrenching fruitlessly at a juncture between one of the side bars and the thin band of metal circling the top joint of the cage when a man had come by, delivering another bowl of water and piece of bread. Only then had Law’s neighbor jolted into action. 

Quicker than any human Law had ever seen, the young man practically flung himself at the door, crouching before the meager food rations. Watching from his cage, Law stared with his mouth agape, feeling a nail bend painfully as his fingers slipped from the iron bars. In less than the blink of an eye, the straw hat man’s bread and water were gone, as if the man had swallowed them whole. The straw hat guy had then looked over at Law’s rations in the adjoining cage, then at Law. In the shadow of the straw hat, the young man’s eyes were nothing but pinpricks as they caught the lamplight, and Law had been struck by how feral the man looked. Like a wild animal, hunting. Law’s hair had stood up at the thought.

After staring at Law for a moment more, the strange man with the straw hat had stalked back over to his blankets, where he had flopped down to go back to sleep. It was only now that the guy was up and about, and Law watched as he continuing to pull at his own fingers. Occasionally the weirdo would bend his fingers forwards and backwards, as though testing his own flexibility. It only seemed to be slightly better than average.

Watching this strange display and remembering the speed with which the man had moved earlier, Law found himself wondering if the guy really did have the power of a devil fruit. Law had never really believed in them, at least not since he’d graduated from primary school. He remembered that the other kids would chat eagerly about them, those devil fruit, and the things they could do. Make a person breathe fire, or lift off the ground without any wings. A fantasy. There was no way they were real, but it was fun to think of it as a child. Which one you might have, if you could have one.

Law had been convinced that the fruit were as much a myth as the Menagerie was, but in his current situation he found pause. The Menagerie was real. And the men who caught him had seemed so sure that he had a devil fruit power, like it was a real thing. Now, leaning against the cold bars of his cage, Law found himself wishing that he did have a devil fruit power. 

Then maybe he’d have a chance at getting out of this place.

Just then, a patch of darkness fell across Law’s body. With a start, he looked to the front of the cage and saw a figure standing there, blocking the light. Law couldn’t see the person’s face, and as he was focusing on it, three more figures crowded around the first. There were chuckles, and a voice drawled through the air, its sound raking up and down Law’s spine.

“Come on out, swirly. It’s your turn.”

Bellamy.

The door opened with an unceremonious _clang_ , and two of the men Law didn’t recognize climbed into the cage. Remembering in a flash the beating he had received not a day ago, Law let out a strangled cry as he scrambled backwards, away from their questing hands. In his panic, he hit his shoulder blades rather hard against the bars at the back of his cage when he connected with them, making him cry out. His ribs shuddered at the impact, the pain winding him.

There was an inarticulate grumble from one of the men as Law scuttled out of his reach, and he tossed some words back at Bellamy, who stood outside the cage, blonde hair catching the lamplight.

“Shoulda beat this guy up more yesterday.”

Bellamy let out a harsh laugh. “Just hurry up and get him out here. We gotta get him to Giolla.”

Hands reached out for Law where he pressed against the bars and he tried to lunge in between the two men, ducking low to avoid their grasp. He felt those rough hands seize him by the arms, their grimy fingernails scraping over his bare skin. The two thugs wrestled the struggling man out of the cage, pulling him violently over the iron doorstep. 

Grabbing onto the metal frame of the cage door, Law strained against it. He didn’t know where they were taking him, but he didn’t want to find out. His fingers latched onto the tarp that covered the cages, and as Bellamy’s cronies hauled him away from the only safe haven he knew in this place, Law pulled the heavy cloth with him. The men slapped at Law’s hands, the shock forcing his fingers open, and the tarp fell from his grasp, drooping woefully off of the cage. 

As they detached him from his cage at last, Law caught a glimpse of the straw-hat guy watching him through a gap in the disturbed tarp. The man had looked up at the commotion in Law’s cage, and the expression on his face held a hint of what could almost be -- pity? Law was struck by a jolt of terror.

“Help me!” Law cried out as he was dragged away, straining back towards the cages, towards the young man. “What are they gonna do?!” 

The straw hat wearer’s expression hardened, and he turned away.

Law’s teeth clenched, and he struggled against the men forcing him down the striped oilcloth hallway. His ribs hurt as he fought but he wouldn’t stop shouting as his desperation and fear turned to anger.

“Don’t just turn away! Help me! Help me, you fu--”

Bellamy slapped Law hard across the face, shutting him up instantly and making his struggling cease.

In the silence following the loud _smack_ of the man’s hand against Law’s cheek, there was a mad cackle from back near the cages. As the group of men collectively looked up, an incredibly strange figure danced out from behind the cages. Law’s resistance against the men was completely and utterly forgotten at the bizarre sight. Sloppy greasepaint clown makeup and a large red nose came into sharp focus as the newcomer danced closer. Bells jangled from a jester’s cap, and a huge ruffled collar served as a pedestal for the clown’s bizarre face. A long, blue-colored ponytail swayed behind the man, and he let out a shrieking cackle as he began to skip around Law and his captors.

“Better not do that, Bellamy!” the clown man tittered, voice high-pitched and sharp like a long, crooked fork. He gave Law a little slap of his own, laughing again before putting a finger to Law’s lips as if to shush him. The clown turned back to Bellamy. “One more and he’ll fall apart! And be bones bones bones! Doffy won’t like that! He won’t, he won’t!”

Bellamy’s eyes turned deadly. “Out, Buggy! Before I give you some pretty bruises too.” 

Buggy let out a screech of a giggle and pranced away from the irate thug. The bizarre clown man gamboled backwards, grasping the tarp that Law had pulled partway off the cages. As the other men looked on, Buggy twirled, wrapping the thick fabric around himself as he spun on the spot. After a few rotations, the cackling man fell to the floor, taking the rest of the tarp with him. He laid on the ground under the tarp, wheezy laughter emanating softly from the pile of canvas. Inside the cage that was now uncovered, Law saw that the straw hat man was laying down again, hat covering his face, back turned to Law and his plight.

Law made to call out again to his cage mate, but Bellamy saw him about to open his mouth and delivered another swift slap to Law’s face. 

“I’m just about sick of your shit.”

Stunned, Law once again found himself wrestled along stripey corridors, head lolling. This time, he was able to see more of his surroundings, the early night not so dark as before. He was dragged past other large cages, but was unable to get a good look at what was inside, though he thought he might already know. Sickened at the thought of other innocent people trapped inside this hell of a place, Law closed his eyes. The twists and turns of the almost psychedelic hallways were making him dizzy. 

Abruptly, the men transporting Law stopped, unceremoniously dropping him onto a wooden floor like a sack of millet. 

“Here you go, Giolla.”

Struggling to recover from the impact, Law lifted himself slightly and looked dazedly in front of him. A pair of feet wearing small, pointy shoes stood before him, and he followed the legs up to a ruffled purple and orange skirt, trimmed in pink ribbon. Looking up further proved useless, as a gigantic belly clad in the same garish colors as the skirt effectively blocked Law from seeing the face of the person in front of him. Just then, the figure bent down and stuck their face in his, hands on their hips. 

Law recoiled.

The alarming person appeared to be a very stout woman, breasts resting almost completely on top of the enormous gut beneath them. Her bizarre hair was fluffed out to either side in unruly curls, one half dyed a bright red and the other half blonde. The hair curved up into a U shape, the tips almost meeting above her head, upon which the rest of the hair was twisted into a two-tone bun. Large pearls bounced on her bosom as she knelt down closer to Law, and as she drew nearer he could see wrinkles outlining her wide mouth and cradling her weak jaw. Unblended blush rode high on her sharp cheekbones, and she lowered a pair of pointy, pink glasses as she peered at Law. 

“Oh my,” she sang, voice high, and reached out a hand to pinch Law’s cheek painfully. It was still tender from being struck, but he was too stunned by her outlandish appearance to move away or resist. The woman looked down and let out a little gasp, picking up one of Law’s lax hands and looking closely at it. 

Running a thumb over the ink on the back of Law’s hand almost reverently, she said, “You must be the one Doffy told me about. Help me hang him up, boys.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Law’s eyes widened. “Wha--”

He was cut off as the men grabbed him, pulling him over to one of the walls of the canvas room. The wooden floor was an oddity in this tent prison, but Law couldn’t think about it too much because he noticed he was being dragged toward some sort of flat metal pan on the floor. That looked like something for blood to drain into.

Law wiggled furiously, but found himself standing in the metal pan, in front of one of the tent’s walls. The metal was cold on his bare feet, but he was distracted from the sensation by the men pulling his arms above his head. The action made the bruised muscles of his chest scream and he yelped, thrashing around. 

“He’s got some bruises, Bellamy,” came the woman’s voice as the men wrestled with Law, a high note of disapproval in it.

“Eh, the tattoos cover most of em,” Bellamy’s voice sounded next to Law’s ear, dispassionate but strained as he worked.

Law’s struggling earned him a violent shake, and as he heard the jangling of chains above him, he felt shackles click shut around his wrists. The men stepped back from Law, and he looked frantically upwards. Sure enough, a chain hung from some sort of pulley dangling off of a thick beam that stretched across the room, attaching to the shackles around Law’s wrists. Before Law could say anything, he heard the chains clink and felt himself being lifted by his wrists. 

“Aah!” Law cried out in alarm, trying to kick his legs out. He was drawn up higher, and quickly found that he needed to use his legs to keep the weight off of his arms. He ended up standing on his tiptoes, tottering and swaying as he tried to keep his balance. There were chuckles from the men at Law’s discomfort, and when the chained man looked up from his feet, he could see Bellamy standing at a winch attached to a wooden support pillar across the room. The cruel man winked at him and turned the winch a little bit further. 

Law felt himself lift fully off the ground, his weight falling onto his wrists and shoulders. He yelled in alarm, kicking at the air, trying to find purchase on the metal pan beneath him. His fingers scrabbled at the chains attached to his shackles, trying to grab them, anything to take the weight off his wrist bones. He could feel them creaking, and cried out, pain tingeing his voice.

“Bellamy, stop that!” The shrill voice was clearly the woman’s, and Law was lowered until he once again stood on his tiptoes. When Law looked at Bellamy, the blonde man was being swatted at by the short matronly woman. “Now out, all of you, out! I have work to do and I can’t have you boys distracting me!” 

She ushered Bellamy and his men through a flap that must have led to another room, before turning back to Law. He didn’t like the glint that came into her eyes when they lighted on him.

Slowly, she sidled across the room, speaking as she went. “Oh, look at those tattoos! They’re so gorgeous, where did you get them?” 

Law said nothing, keeping a close eye on her as she stopped in front of him and gave him an appraising look. She giggled.

“Oh, but how rude of me! I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Giolla,” she smiled, her teeth offset by the purple lipstick she wore. “And yours?”

Law hesitated, before starting,”Trafa--”

“Oohoho!” Giolla laughed and slapped Law’s chest, knocking him off balance and cutting him off. “I didn’t mean for you to actually answer, dearest! It’s not like it matters anyway, since Doffy’s going to give you a new one!” 

Finding his balance again, Law stared at her in confusion and horror. His toes were starting to hurt.

“Well, best get started,” Giolla cackled to herself, turning to a table next to where Law hung. She grabbed a clear bottle and as she was uncorking it, Law saw the amber liquid inside illuminated by the lamplight. He squinted. Oil?

Giolla started to pour the liquid into her hand but paused, snapping her fingers and placing the bottle back onto the table with a _thunk_. 

“I almost forgot!” She opened a drawer and drew from it a large pair of scissors. Law froze as she turned and advanced on him. As the gleaming twin blades grew closer and dipped lower, Law let out a cry of fear, jolting backwards. His feet slipped from beneath him and he fell, his bound hands jerking him to an abrupt stop. The action wrenched Law’s shoulders and wrists painfully and he yelped, scrambling to get his feet back beneath him to relieve the ache.

Giolla had given a shriek at Law’s initial movement, and moved the blades of the scissors away from the struggling man. Now she watched, tutting as Law painfully rebalanced himself, settling back onto his tiptoes. The stout woman again approached him, speaking in a sickly sweet tone, as though comforting an animal.

“Now, you know better than to try that again. You could have swung right into these.” She waggled the huge shears in front of Law’s face. “And we wouldn’t want anything damaging those tattoos. I shudder to think of it!”

She moved right up close to Law’s face, her expression turning dark and menacing, voice remaining sweet. “Don’t move an inch, dearie, or you’ll be losing more than just your pants. These scissors can be quite difficult to control in such a,” she glanced down Law’s body, “confined space.” 

“ _Point taken,_ ” Law spat out through gritted teeth, feeling one cold blade of the shears slip between the waist of his pants and his skin. Giolla laughed, and Law felt the blade move, hearing a snipping sound as the material of his pants was sliced through.

“Don’t panic, silly. I just want to see the tattoos you’re hiding down there,” Giolla explained, sounding as though cutting a bound man’s pants off was the most normal thing in the world to be doing. Law held as still as he could while the woman slit the rest of his pants and pulled them from his body with a flourish.

He hung there, bound, naked, balancing on his tiptoes, on display for Giolla to view. His tormentor’s face was an open book, and Law watched as her expression grew pouty, lips drawing in close, wrinkled skin around her eyes furrowing with her squint.

“How disappointing,” Giolla muttered, a whine in her voice. “You only have art on your top half!” 

Law stared at her. A draft from somewhere above him caressed his skin, and he shivered, making the chains clink together.

“Well, no matter.” Giolla abruptly turned away, bustling over to the table and setting the scissors down. “I’ll have to get you some new pants though. Your body looks so unbalanced with nothing on the lower half. Every artist knows that balance is key.” 

She wasn’t looking at Law, and seemed to be mostly talking to herself. Law sagged a little in relief. Thank god she would give him pants. He didn’t relish the idea of being dragged around this place naked. Hell, he was already at their mercy even with clothes.

Law watched as Giolla moved to the other side of the room, where several large trunks were assembled in the corner. They appeared to be practically overflowing with all kinds of colorful clothing. The woman began rummaging through the contents of one of the trunks, pushing different pieces of clothing out and onto the floor, where they pooled at the base of the chest in a gaudy heap. 

The chained up man let his eyes flutter shut, trying to drown out the hell he was in. He let his mind sit still for a moment, and began to feel it lifting from the heavy ground it sat upon, floating behind his eyes. One by one, he disconnected himself from each of his senses, drawing his consciousness up his legs and away from his cramping toes. Block the pain. Block the pain. The deep ache in his shoulders and idle tingling of his numbing hands faded to a dull drone at the back of Law’s mind. With his eyes closed like this, body forgotten, Law felt almost free. No one could chain him here. No one could hurt him. 

He felt his foot being grabbed and was pulled back to the surface, opening his eyes like a drowning man gasping for air. Giolla was holding onto his foot and appeared to be trying to stuff his leg into a black garment. Her lips were moving, and Law stared dully at them until his hearing bobbed up from the depths.

“...found these! These should work! Now there can be balance!”

Law didn’t miss the irony of this statement as he wobbled on one foot, not resisting as Giolla roughly pulled the pants onto him. He fell as she swapped to the other foot and the woman did nothing to help him, shimmying the pants up to Law’s waist as he hung by his wrists, the metal of the shackles cutting into his flesh. Only once the garment was on completely did Giolla push him up so he could resume standing on his toes. 

“Perfect!” she beamed, standing back to get a look at him. 

Law looked down at himself. The pants weren’t so much pants as skin-tight hose, stretching to midway down Law’s calves. Deep black in color, flecks of sparkling blue and grey were woven into the cloth. Despite the fabric’s flimsy appearance, Law’s legs were warming up beneath it, well-insulated inside the starry half-leggings.

A pair of pudgy, glistening hands entered Law’s field of vision, pressing against his chest. He stared listlessly down at the hands as they smeared the shining liquid that covered them over his skin, rubbing him down carefully. Law caught a slightly pungent scent rising from where the liquid pressed against his skin. Castor oil, by the scent. Unfocused eyes looked on as Giolla oiled the rest of Law’s skin, moving behind him and smearing his back with the stuff as well. Her fingers were sharp, like talons, biting into Law’s flesh, shaping and molding it like clay. Maybe that was all he was to them. 

He was hardly aware of it when Giolla lowered him with the winch until his knees kissed the metal pan that caught the oil coming off of him in places where too much had been applied. The woman lowered Law’s arms, unclipping the shackles from the length of chain dangling from the pulley system. Bringing Law’s hands out before him, she cradled them almost gently, coating them in the oil as well. When she’d released him at last, Law sat on his knees, shackled hands limp in his lap. His fingers glistened in the lamplight. D-E-A-T-H. Law stared at the word like he was just now learning it. The cut on his chin stung from the oil.

“Alright boys! He’s ready!” Giolla yelled at the door of the room. Law heard her voice next to his ear. “Have a good time performing, sweetheart.” 

Law looked up. He gazed at her with a sort of desperation, like he wanted to crawl inside those beady eyes, and as he felt the men’s hands under his arms, words bubbled up from his throat helplessly.

“What’s going to happen to me?” 

Giolla smiled as the men dragged Law towards the door. Arms looped under his and firm hands on the chain connecting Law’s wrists, Bellamy and his crew were relentless, pulling Law backwards even as he called after Giolla.

“Where are they taking me?!” The oilcloth walls swallowed the desperate edge of his voice. Giolla waved after him merrily. 

“You’re part of the Menagerie now, my dear,” she called. “It’s time to play your part!”

The canvas flaps of the room closed as Law was dragged through them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter!! my outline has already increased from the anticipated 15 chapters and an epilogue to now 17 chapters and an epilogue. 
> 
> See you next chapter! 
> 
> じゃなあ~


	4. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's showtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are beginning to pick up! Hope you like this one! 
> 
> And here's a challenge from my beta reader: "Take a shot every time Kavi describes the same tent." Thanks for the read Nerdya~
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS:  
> \- Molestation  
> \- Threat of rape  
> \- Non consensual groping  
> \- Biting

Law was wrenched quickly across more canvas floor, the ground hard and cold beneath his bare feet. They passed entrances to several other chambers like Giolla’s before entering a long hallway. At the far end of the dim, tented passage, Law could see what appeared to be a small wooden door, growing clearer as Bellamy and the others hurried towards it. 

Confusion forced its way past Law’s distress as he gasped, panting breaths drawn from him by the quick pace. A door in a tent?

As it came into sharp focus, Law could see that the door appeared to be just beyond a hole cut into the fabric. The match wasn’t exact, and there were slight gaps around the frame that was separating the wood from the tent. Nothing was visible through the gaps--where there must be wood--but lamplight flickered from behind the canvas, and shadows danced across the tent’s wall, a writhing mass of umbrae. Law could hear cheering as the door grew nearer, accompanied by a booming, inaudible voice. 

Law didn’t want to know what was behind that door.

He dug his already aching heels into the ground. They bounced over what felt like rocks, the friction from the rough canvas burning the soles of his feet. He tripped over a bump and yelled as his ankle was kicked by one of the men escorting him. The thugs swore as Law fell, dragging them down with his body weight. Wrenching Law back to his feet, they continued down the passage none too gently. To avoid any further injury to his feet, Law was forced to quickly walk along and attempt to keep up with the men holding him as they followed Bellamy towards the door. The chain attached to Law’s shackles jangled as they hurried along.

Upon reaching the door, two men took up positions on either side of Law, looping their arms around his to avoid losing their grip on Law’s oiled skin. With Law’s back to the door, the men held him there, making it impossible for him to do more than struggle weakly. 

Bellamy drew Law’s hands out before him, and after a few metallic clicks the shackles were lifted from his wrists. Law immediately set to attacking the arms holding him but stopped with a whimpering cry when the men brutally pulled his arms in opposite directions, as though to dislocate his shoulders. The stretch made more of the oil seep into the lacerations on Law’s sides, and he hissed at the sting. Bellamy stepped up close to Law, getting right in his face. Though the man’s breath was almost masked by the strong scent of the castor oil, the smell of putrid meat still managed to come through. 

“I hope Doffy teaches you a lesson, troublemaker,” Bellamy hissed. 

Law heard the door behind him open with a squeak, the cheering growing louder with nothing to hold it back. The men at his sides released him, and Bellamy gave Law a hard shove, making him trip backwards and over the lip of the doorframe. He sprawled onto a wooden floor and watched Bellamy’s smirking face vanish as the door swung shut. A lock clicked.

There were cheers from around Law, and he became aware of the noise as if his ears were slowly becoming unstopped. Looking around in a daze, Law saw that he was in what appeared to be a wooden room with bars on either side of him. His wide eyes followed the bars as they extended past him and he turned around onto his side, looking back. There was another opening at the far end of what Law now saw to be a tunnel of sorts. A bright light could be seen past the opening, and Law squinted. It looked like fire, and a lot of it. 

Just then, something touched his foot. 

Law jerked away instinctively, looking back to see what had brushed him. His eyes shot open. 

A hand. Poking from between the bars. It reached after him, chasing down his foot like a predator.

Law let out an involuntary yelp and drew his legs close, avoiding the questing touch. Scooting backwards, he watched with horror and disgust as more hands lunged through the bars towards him, fingers twisting in the air. He couldn’t see the faces of the people reaching for him. They appeared only as a dark mass in the dim light. Many heads. Many hands.

“C’mon gorgeous! Lemme feel that body!” 

The lecherous cry cut through the overlapping voices, and was met with laughter and jeers. Law recoiled even further, shuddering. Suddenly several hands latched onto him and pulled him back against the bars on the opposite side of the tunnel. Law had unwittingly backed within arm’s reach of them, and now he was pinned against the bars as he struggled frantically, crying out in panic.

“N-no! Let me go!” he yelled, before a dirty hand was pressed over his mouth.

The grip of the hands holding him against the bars was so hard that Law yelped, a muffled, pained squeak. His face was being squeezed so tightly by the palm over his mouth that there was no way for him to even try and bite it. Law bucked as he felt fingers creeping over his torso, slipping in the oil, moving across the contours of his body. Grimy fingernails skidded over his flesh, tingles racing up and down Law’s veins even as he tried to fight them. A voice sounded just behind Law, throaty and cracked.

“God, I wanna fuck you so bad.”

Law struggled harder, senses honing in on a rough, calloused hand drifting down his abdomen. He felt it skate over the oil on his skin, down the line of his hip to the hem of the pants that he wore. Though dozens of other hands were caressing him, all Law could focus on was that one, as it dipped under the pants he wore. He could feel a fingertip brush his pubic hair.

Fuck no.

A rush of adrenaline shot through Law. He wrenched his right hand free from where it was pinned against the bars, twisting it out of the grip of several hands. The oil Giolla had applied to him became a blessing as he fought free from the hands violating him. Scratching violently at the hand over his mouth, biting the flesh viciously, Law was able to free his other arm in the clamor and claw his way free of the mass of hands, kicking them back and away from him. He rose to his feet and ran the few steps to the door he’d been forced through by Bellamy.

Forgetting that it was locked, Law wrenched at the handle, almost sobbing in fear. Fingers slick, they slipped helplessly from the metal handle of the door. He pounded on the wooden door, hearing the jeers of the crowd behind him, beyond the bars.

“Let me in! Bellamy!” Law shouted, voice laced with desperation. “Please!”

And just like that, Law couldn’t move.

He stared at his own hands as they lowered from where they had been striking the door, stilled mid-action. Pinpricks kissed his skin, like hackles rising. Law found himself unable to shiver, though his body wanted to. Something was very wrong. 

He felt his feet moving until he was turned around, back facing the door that he _needed_ to open. Law found himself staring down the corridor of bars and hands, looking at the fire at the end of it. It was like a road to Hell.

There was an amplified chuckle, cutting through the occasional whoop of the crowd. Law froze at the sibilant voice, heart dropping.

“Ah, he’s a feisty one, isn’t he?” Doflamingo’s voice said from somewhere. It boomed over the crowd as they laughed in agreement. 

Law couldn’t see the monstrous man anywhere. He scanned what he could view of the room, seeing nothing but a scattered mass of faces. Law felt his feet moving forward, walking carefully down the center of the barred walkway. Hands reached for him again, and his feet skipped over them of their own volition as Doflamingo’s thrown voice continued.

“Please welcome the newest member of the Menagerie!” Doflamingo crowed. “Corazon!”

The crowd cheered, and Law felt his heart clench as he neared the end of the tunnel. Corazon…? What--?

As he stepped over the threshold of the door at the far end, Law was momentarily dazzled by the immense light, something he hadn’t seen in what felt like days. He stood on the edge of a giant circular platform. Doflamingo stood at the center of the circle in the pink feathered jacket Law had seen him in before, holding a large metal megaphone. 

The platform the two stood on was completely surrounded by blazing fire, save for the entrance Law had come from. The fire appeared to be cradled by some sort of circular metal trough circling the stage. The crowd was finally visible beyond the dancing tongues of flame, and Law could see dozens of haggard, dirty men, the firelight painting their faces in burning reds and oranges.

Law’s body moved, and he found himself walking around the stage, lifting his arms as though he had won some sort of boxing match. The light caught on the oil coating his body, making it shine.

“Aren’t his exotic looks something!” called Doflamingo. The crowd oo-ed. “Where could he be from? Alabasta perhaps? Ohara? Or maybe even Dressrosa!”

The crowd cheered at the name of their own city, and Law felt sickened, thinking of the Dressrosan streets he’d been snatched from. He walked to where Doflamingo stood at the center of the platform, and the man seized him with his free arm. Law’s back was pressed against Doflamingo’s cold chest, just like in the stone room. That felt so long ago. 

The cut on his chin gave a throb.

Doflamingo’s long fingers began to draw patterns on Law’s skin as the taller man spoke into the megaphone. “And look at these tattoos! Gorgeous!”

The crowd whooped in agreement, and Law suddenly felt whatever had come over him lift. He could move his own body again, the strange feeling of numbness oozing from his limbs. 

Without hesitation, Law jerked his hands up towards the arm restraining him, scratching and bucking his body against Doflamingo in an attempt to wiggle free. He threw his head back, trying to hit the taller man’s chin to stun him.

Doflamingo dodged the attack and tossed the megaphone down violently. It clanged loudly on the wood of the stage, rolling away towards the edge. 

The crowd hushed. 

Law felt his body stop moving, freezing him in place as he struggled. He strained against the feeling, but it wouldn’t lift. If anything, it was as though the sensation had redoubled, binding his limbs in some invisible, immovable net of string.

Doflamingo flipped Law, one-handed. With the younger man pressed against him, he leaned down to Law’s neck, putting on a show of appearing to inhale the other man’s scent. Law shivered at the puffs of breath scurrying over the thin skin of his neck. When Doflamingo reached Law’s ear, there was a hiss as the feathered man whispered into it.

_“Don’t try that again, Corazon.”_

Law’s breath caught in his throat at the undisguised malice in the man’s voice, as cold as his body. He felt Doflamingo’s sharp nails dig into his arm as if to reiterate the underlying threat.

Law’s body moved just then, and he almost choked at the motion, looking down at himself in horror. Sure enough, his body was starting to gently undulate against Doflamingo’s. The murmuring crowd started hooting and jeering behind him. Law’s arms reached up of their own accord to touch the taller man’s chest, dragging down over Doflamingo’s pecs sensually. Law fought against his movements, the strain both painful and alarming, like trying to move a deadened limb.

Doflamingo chuckled, running a finger down Law’s spine, catching on every bump. His other hand appeared to be in his pocket, the picture of casual cruelty. Seeing his captor so relaxed, Law’s terror gave way to resentment, and he glared at Doflamingo as his unresponsive body continued to humiliate him. He didn’t know how, but this had to be Doflamingo’s doing. Maybe the man had slipped him something. It had probably been in the fucking bread.

Law’s body flipped around and began to run his hands up and down his own torso, rubbing his back against Doflamingo’s. The bigger man’s cool hand crept down Law’s side and teased at the top hem of his pants. The crowd practically screamed at the show they were getting. 

Law could do nothing to resist as Doflamingo reached lower, ghosting over the skin just next to where Law’s crotch was. Against his will, Law gasped at the sensation, and felt his body grind against that hand. Doflamingo chuckled and wedged his hand between Law’s thighs, stroking the skin there. To Law’s horror, the unseen force controlling him made him open his legs slightly, as if to let Doflamingo in further. Deeper.

He was starting to get hard, despite himself. Flushed and panting at the unexpected foreplay forced upon him, Law let out a groan as Doflamingo ground his hips against Law’s ass. There was a definite hardness there, and Law felt a jolt of fear. He was helpless under whatever drug Doflamingo had given him.

If the monster decided to rape him right here and now, there was nothing he could do to defend himself.

Just like that, his body stopped grinding itself against Doflamingo and took a few steps away from the huge man. Relief washed over Law as his feet led him closer to the fire at the edge of the stage, before turning him back to see the man picking up his megaphone once again. He’d sooner jump into that fire than walk back to Doflamingo.

“Looks like someone needs a fuck,” Doflamingo joked into the megaphone, and the crowd laughed and cheered.

The feathered man gave some sort of signal, and there was a clanking sound from above the stage. Law looked up, his head the only thing left under his control. Above him was the impossibly tall peak of the large tent they were under, where several long beams met the support pole in the center almost like the spokes of a wheel. The stage was just off center of the main support pole, behind the crowd.

Law squinted over the flames at a man standing next to the support pole, away from the crowd. In contrast with the rest of the crowd, this man was dressed nicely, in a white suit. He appeared to be wearing dark glasses, even though it was the evening, and indoors. The man had a stern air to him, even his facial hair sharp and defined. He stood watching the stage silently, arms crossed, not cheering or reacting in any way. Law felt another aborted shiver attempt to ripple through him, body held in place against the urge. Even though Law couldn’t see the eyes behind the dark glasses, he knew the man’s gaze was drilling into him. 

Something was being lowered from up above, the clanking of metal drawing Law’s attention back upwards. As the thing came into view Law saw that it was a cage. Tall and narrow, no room to do anything but stand. A couple of chains hung from the top of it, clattering as the cage was lowered.

The cage had hardly landed on the stage before Law found himself stepping inside. It seemed like that was all his life consisted of, now: walking from one cage to another. Doflamingo crossed over to him and began clipping his lax hands into shackles that were hanging from the chains at the top of the cage. Law’s feet were also restrained to a pair of shackles attached to the bottom of the cage. Doflamingo cupped Law’s face in one cold hand, smiling at his defiant snarl.

“Can’t have you injuring our customers, can we?” the feathered man crooned.

“Go to hell,” Law spat. Doflamingo only smirked, closing the door of the cage.

Law felt sensation and willpower come back into his limbs but he was now unable to move for a different reason, chained into the cage that was lifted into the air and over the crowd. Without ceremony, he was lowered into the heaving throng, hands darting in between the bars before the cage had even fully lowered to the ground.

The insatiable crowd touched Law everywhere they could reach. The cage was large enough to prevent them from touching his face if he held it at the right angle, and his torso was mostly protected. Those with longer arms could scrape against his tattooed torso, and one clawed at his pants, pulling them down enough to see more of his hip bones with their darting movement. Law held still, painfully still. To move meant molestation.

Law stared at Doflamingo from his place in the heaving crowd. Over the writhing heads of the people, he could see the huge man standing with crossed arms, smiling at his handiwork. Their eyes met and Doflamingo’s smile grew even more broad. Law set his jaw.

\---

Law was tossed unceremoniously back into his cage after Doflamingo’s sick idea of a show. It had gotten considerably darker in the time he’d been gone, even the lantern starting to dim, its oil running low. The tarp that had covered Law’s cage was gone now, presumably taken by Buggy. Law wouldn’t be surprised if the strange man was going to make a nest out of it.

Sparing a glance over to the other cell, Law was somewhat surprised to see that it was empty. Until now, he hadn’t seen it without its occupant. Law found himself unable to dwell on this as the crushing weight of what had happened on the stage struck him like a punch.

Staggered, Law crawled over to his blankets, wrapping himself in his own sort of nest. Curling up, he scrunched his eyes closed. Sleep. Go to sleep. He wanted to escape this horrible place, even if only in his dreams. Though truth be told, he wasn’t sure if even those were safe anymore. 

Eyes closed, Law gripped his own hand with the other and began to silently name each of the bones in it, running his thumb over them as he went. Thumb phalanges: distal phalanx. Proximal phalanx. Thumb metacarpal. Index phalanges: distal. Middle. Proximal. Index metacarpal. Middle phalanges: dist--

The repetition of the finger bones soothed him, creating a rhythm of familiarity. Law touched his own arm, gently, trying to banish the unwanted touches from before. No more. No more. Not Doflamingo. Not them. Only him.

Interrupting Law’s meditation, a loud clatter and commotion sounded from somewhere to the left, and Law sat up with a jolt, listening intently. There was a shout of pain nearby, followed by a roar of rage.

“Motherfucker bit me!”

The sounds of a struggle grew closer and Law watched as his neighbor was hauled into view. He was kicking and trying to punch and bite the men dragging him, yelling angrily in another language, all rolled r’s and venom. The young man had one arm wrapped protectively around his straw hat, and as he was shoved into his cell, he twisted to avoid crushing it beneath him.

One of the men was clutching his hand. Wet blood shone in the faint light, and the furious man kicked at the bars of the cage.

“Doffy’s gonna hear about this, Mugiwara! He’ll crush your stupid hat!”

The young man -- Mugiwara -- snarled and dove at the man beyond the bars. His arms reached through, clawing at the other man. Mugiwara’s fingers managed to catch on the guard’s shirt and he tore it open in one swipe. The man let out a high-pitched shriek as he jumped back and his companions laughed. 

“Isn’t that your last clean shirt?” one of them chuckled.

The men started to move off, and the man who Mugiwara had attacked spat at the young man before hurrying after the others.

Law watched from his blankets as Mugiwara pounded on the bars with his bare fists, letting out a yell. He punched the metal until Law was sure his knuckles must be burst, but when the young man turned, his fists were unharmed. The corner of his mouth was red with the blood of the men he’d bitten. Mugiwara stalked to his bed, only stopping to pick up his hat. He was muttering in his own language, but Law could guess at what he was saying.

As Mugiwara threw himself down on the blankets and started to get settled, he happened to look up and see Law peering at him. He looked towards the heavens in exasperation before directing what sounded like an accusation at Law in that same foreign language, as though the guy couldn’t be bothered to switch to Common. Mugiwara gave Law a dismissive wave and turned on his side to sleep.

The lamp burned out, leaving Law staring into the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjooooyed the chapterrrr! The next one really heats up, so stayed tuned. Thanks for reading! 
> 
> See ya next chap!
> 
> じゃなあ~


	5. Luffy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Law can't sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty well we've reached the point that the rape/non-con comes into play. Reader discretion has always been advised for this fic, but especially from this point forward. Please look out for yourselves and read the chapter warnings.
> 
> Thank you to my beta reader Nerdya, as always!
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS:  
> \- Explicit rape/non-con  
> \- Violent sex  
> \- Non-consensual voyeurism  
> \- Description of a panic attack

Hours later, Law was still awake, laying on his back and watching the jagged hole in the tent’s roof above him. If it were to rain, he’d get drenched. Law idly reflected that the tarp Buggy stole must have been on the cages to prevent just that. Light from the shifted moon shone through the tear in the canvas, pouring into Mugiwara’s cage, splashing onto a sandal-clad foot that protruded from the darkness. The rest of the man’s body was in shadow, but Law could hear his soft sleep breathing in the quiet night air.

From this angle, Law could see stars through the hole in the roof. Too few to identify any constellations, but just enough to twinkle at Law, waving at him from beyond the canvas roof.

Law felt a sort of irrational resentment for those beautiful and far-away stars, free and unreachable while he had to shift around to see them without iron bars blocking them from view. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine the cage falling away, him rising to his feet and floating through that hole in the roof. Grabbing a star and holding it, seeing his hand glow red as he gripped it in his fist. Releasing it, watching it soar away, like the fireflies he and Lammy used to--

Law sat bolt upright, eyes wrenched open. He felt his chest tighten, breath quickening. Shaking his head as though trying to rid his hair of water, he grabbed one wrist with his other hand, squeezing it. He couldn’t think of her in this place. Law realized dully that he was clenching his teeth, and carefully released his jaw, feeling the energy dissipate as he calmed.

Breathing out deeply, Law looked over to the door, remembering that there was some leftover water in his bowl from earlier. He hadn’t felt like touching it after his ordeal in that hellish “show.” Even now he thought he could feel the ghosts of unwanted hands sliding over his body, and he shivered at the sensation, wiping his still rather oily chest with his hands to brush the feeling away.

It wasn’t as cold tonight as it had been the night before, but the metal of the cage floor was still cool to the touch. Climbing slowly out from under his blankets, Law crept quietly across his cage, not wanting to wake Mugiwara. He could remember the way the cage rattled when those fists struck the bars, the blood trickling from Mugiwara’s mouth after wounding the guard. Law knew he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that rage.

Crouching next to the bowl of water, Law saw that there was more of it left than he’d thought. The bowl was more than halfway full, so Law was careful when he lifted it to his mouth and took a few swallows. The water was cool, chilled by the night air, and it felt pleasant against his chapped lips.

_Click._

The lock.

Law started at the noise, spilling some water onto his chest. Quickly setting the bowl down, he backed away from his door, eyeing it warily. There was a moment of stillness before there came the quiet scrape of metal against metal from off to Law’s right. Turning to look, Law watched as the door to Mugiwara’s cage slowly opened, someone stepping inside.

Law’s heart dropped. It was Doflamingo, stooping as he crossed the threshold. The ringmaster wasn’t wearing his feather coat, and Law saw just how muscled the man was, the strength under that flesh evident even in the moonlight alone. As Law soundlessly backed away from where the huge man stood, Doflamingo closed the cage door, not taking his eyes from where Mugiwara lay, still sleeping. 

A cold hand gripped Law’s heart. He didn’t like this. Should he wake Mugiwara? But how much could the small man do to defend against Doflamingo? Maybe he should try to distract him somehow. He could--

Doflamingo stalked across the cage in two strides and seized Mugiwara. The young man awoke instantly, and in the moonlight Law saw his face morph into a look of terror. Then he was obscured from Law’s view by Doflamingo, swallowed by the huge man’s body.

“No! Wai--!” It was Mugiwara’s voice, strangled, tripping over itself before it was abruptly cut off.

When Doflamingo moved again, Law was able to see what looked like a white cloth gag in Mugiwara’s mouth, pulled tight around the young man’s head so he couldn’t speak. Eyes wide and frozen in his horror, Law felt a sinking feeling reach from the ground and latch onto his stomach, pulling him down.

This couldn’t be happening.

Doflamingo pushed Mugiwara’s faded red vest off in one smooth motion, pressing his hands against the young man’s chest and abdomen. Mugiwara’s face looked pained, his eyes screwed shut, teeth clenched around the gag. He didn’t resist, only shaking slightly as Doflamingo pawed at him, unmoving as he was pushed to the floor of the cage, the rest of his clothes ripped from him, leaving him naked beneath Doflamingo.

Law was shaking too, crawling backwards until he hit the bars behind him, floor cold against his hands and feet. He couldn’t watch this, couldn’t look, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. There was nothing he could do.

He tried not to watch as Doflamingo pulled his dick out and moved towards Mugiwara, who trembled on the floor of the cage like a pinned butterfly. Law could see the young man’s muscles straining under his skin. The ringmaster knelt and pushed Mugiwara’s legs apart and Law saw the young man’s eyes close, tears rolling down the sides of his face. Law buried his own face in his hands but couldn’t block out the muffled scream as Doflamingo pressed in. He couldn’t block out Doflamingo’s words as he crooned to his victim.

“Good boy, just take it. I know you can.” 

There was another scream from Mugiwara, stifled by the gag.

A sigh from Doflamingo. “God, you feel good.”

After a minute or so, the screams had stopped and turned to sobbing. Law couldn’t escape the noises, no matter how hard he pressed his palms over his ears. He still heard Doflamingo.

“Hold still while I take you apart.”

Law tried to disappear, to focus on the blackness of the inside of his eyelids, but every whimper from Mugiwara, every slap of skin against skin, every grunt from Doflamingo sent a lance of pain through him. Holding his mouth with both hands, Law pressed his back against the bars, feeling the cage begin to shudder with the force of Doflamingo’s thrusts. He was helpless, trapped behind cold bars as Mugiwara was raped before him. His stomach churned, the urge to vomit stirring in his belly.

“A-ah!” The clarity of the cry made Law open his eyes involuntarily. He wished he hadn’t.

Doflamingo had Mugiwara pinned to the floor of the cage, holding the young man’s wrists down with one hand. Law could see the metal bracelets on Mugiwara’s wrists, untouched by Doflamingo’s hand. The ringmaster’s hips churned in between Mugiwara’s legs, pressing in deep. Mugiwara’s head was thrown back, his spine arched. The gag was gone, and the young man’s cries could be heard clearly now.

“Ah! Aah!” Mugiwara cried out, twisting his head. “P-please! I’m sorry!”

Still holding his hands over his mouth in horror at the scene before him, Law watched as Mugiwara’s legs spread even further and his hips lifted, making the young man scream. Doflamingo moved quicker, hips connecting violently with Mugiwara’s.

“Please,” Mugiwara whimpered, tears dripping down his face. “Pl--aah--please! It hurts!”

“Yes,” Doflamingo purred. “It had to hurt tonight. You were naughty.”

Law remembered the blood trickling from the corner of Mugiwara’s mouth as he had slammed his fists into the cell door.

“H-he tried t-- _aah_ \--” Mugiwara tried to speak but Doflamingo thrust his hips hard into the young man, making his body slide across the floor from the force. “Aah, aah--”

“Mmhm?” Law could hear the smirk in Doflamingo’s voice. “Tried to do what?”

“T-took my -- _aah_ \-- hat,” Mugiwara managed to choke out. Doflamingo chuckled, pistoning in and out of the smaller man viciously.

“I should have known. You know,” he crooned, “I can take that hat away whenever I please.”

Mugiwara froze, his whole body statue-like, hands still pinned to the floor above his head. Doflamingo’s thrusts slowed, and something changed in the air. Mugiwara’s eyes narrowed, the young man’s lips pulling back from his teeth as his legs started to move, lifting upwards. Law’s eyes widened as he watched Mugiwara’s arms also begin to move, leaving the ground. The movement was somehow different than before, less smooth and more stilted, like Mugiwara was fighting with something binding him to the floor. 

There was a burst of movement as Mugiwara’s arms jerked upwards, and he abruptly twisted his wrist in Doflamingo's grasp, the metal cuffs shifting in the light. Doflamingo hissed and released the smaller man’s wrists, grabbing at his own hand like it had been stung. Mugiwara’s body seemed to jolt with some latent energy, his hands jumping up from where they’d been pinned, a snarl on his face.

As Mugiwara’s hands shot towards Doflamingo, he was abruptly frozen, halfway sitting up. Law’s heart skipped a beat. He looked on as Mugiwara was thrown back to the floor as if by some invisible force, hands pinned to the ground, fingers twitching. The young man’s body went rigid but practically vibrated, like the energy from before was still there.

Law almost gasped at the speed with which Doflamingo leaned forward and grabbed Mugiwara’s face, covering the smaller man’s mouth with one large palm. The ringmaster’s grip tightened, and Law could see his fingers digging into Mugiwara’s cheeks. The young man let out a muffled squeak of pain, trying to shake his head. Doflamingo leaned over him, before forcing Mugiwara’s head backwards, pinning him to the ground as he folded the man practically in half, still buried inside him. His next words were full of menace, drawing close to Mugiwara’s face.

“I thought we were past this. Haven’t you learned your place yet, Mugiwara?” he hissed, tightening his grip further. Mugiwara yelped under his hand, eyes scrunching closed in pain. “Try that again, and you know who’ll be suffering. I’ll have to hurt him tonight anyway, after your stunt earlier.”

Law saw Mugiwara’s eyes shoot open, a broken noise coming from beneath Doflamingo’s hand. The sound was sharp and afraid and unlike anything Law had heard from Mugiwara in the brief time he’d known him. It made chills skate over his skin and up his back.

Doflamingo watched Mugiwara struggle underneath him for a moment before pulling back, starting a slow, deep pulse inside the smaller man. Tears began to flow from Mugiwara’s eyes, trickling over Doflamingo’s fingers. He was whimpering, the noises panicked and quick.

“Aww, so scared,” Doflamingo whispered, an edge of malice in his voice. “What should I do to him? Pull off a couple more fingernails? Or shall I cut off a finger this time?”

Mugiwara was sobbing, sharp, rending breaths coming from beneath the large palm covering his mouth, and whistling harshly through his nose. His body was trembling, once again arching up to meet Doflamingo’s, their hips slotting together wetly. Law’s mouth was open behind his own hands, frozen in horror. His eyes slipped out of focus, seeing only light and shadow that moved in tandem to an accompaniment of venomous whispers and choked, muffled sobs.

Law felt tears slip out of his own eyes, rolling down numb cheeks.

It felt like years before Doflamingo finally withdrew, taking his hand off of Mugiwara’s face. The ringmaster stood up, leaving the small man still spread-eagled and motionless on the floor. Sobs still shuddered from Mugiwara’s mouth and nose, but his body lay almost perfectly still, legs still spread, hands on either side of his head.

Doflamingo stared down at his victim dispassionately. “Don’t disappoint me again.”

As Doflamingo moved to leave the cage, he paused. His glasses caught the moonlight as he looked up and stared straight at Law, where he hid in the shadows. An ice-cold hand squeezed Law’s heart and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Doflamingo’s face split open in a wide grin, and he nodded at Law. 

With that, the ringmaster left the cage, locking it soundly behind him. As Doflamingo’s footfalls faded into the distance, Law felt his heart start beating again and watched Mugiwara’s body go lax. He could see the young man’s face in the moonlight, contorted from trying to hold in sobs even as they escaped through his nose. Mugiwara rolled onto his side, closing his legs and pulling his knees close. He cradled his head in his hands, fingers gripping the dark hair. The sobs came back, and Law saw the man’s narrow shoulders shaking.

Law watched silently as Mugiwara’s small body trembled on the floor of the cage, naked in the cold moonlight. Huddled against the back of his cage, Law still had his hands over his mouth, horrified. He shouldn’t be watching this, shouldn’t be privy to such a profound hurt, unbidden. Yet, here he was, cowering like a dog in a kennel, useless, powerless.

Law let his numb hands drop, releasing an involuntary breath as he did so. The sound was loud in the quiet night. Law froze.

Mugiwara stopped crying and was still for a moment before lifting his head. His eyes searched the dim shadows of the cage until he found Law. The young man’s face twisted into something unreadable and he clenched his teeth. Quickly, Mugiwara sat up and began furiously wiping at his eyes.

“Well?” he asked Law, not looking at him. His voice had been sharpened, whetted on a grindstone. “Did you like the show? Did it get you _hard?_ ”

Law watched as the young man struggled to clean himself up, trying to hide the hurt. Mugiwara was still shaking, his legs crossed with a tightness that only released more tremors. He tried not to look at the younger man’s groin but couldn’t miss the unaroused state Mugiwara was in. Law felt his eyebrows draw up above the bridge of his nose, a whirl of concern, shame, pity, and anger shifting in his head, curling around itself like thick smoke. Law could see the youth in Mugiwara’s face, in his build. There was a robust energy buried there, pride, fettered under the shadows of the bars cast by the moon’s light. Younger than Law, but a dark wisdom to those eyes. Law understood now.

“I’m so sorry,” Law said, his voice low.

Mugiwara looked up, the skin red and puffy around his eyes. He stared long and hard at Law for a moment, then shrugged, turning away. “Whatever.”

“Are you hurt?” Law asked, moving closer to the bars as Mugiwara reached for his discarded clothing. The young man picked up one of his sandals, and Law saw how tight his grip was on the woven grass shoe.

“No,” Mugiwara said, his expressive accent clipped at the ends, blunting his words. Reaching the bars separating them, Law sighed softly at the obvious lie.

“I can help, you know,” Law tried, speakingly lowly. Mugiwara was still staring at the sandal in his hand, his face obscured by shadow. “I was studying to be a--”

“ _I don’t need your help_!” Mugiwara shouted, whirling and throwing the sandal violently at the bars between them. It bounced off with a resounding clang, making Law jump. 

“--doctor,” Law finished lamely.

The air was heavy after Mugiwara’s outburst, and Law could feel the anger crackling in the air like electricity, as if a lightning bolt had struck the ground in front of him. Mugiwara was panting, his shoulders heaving like he’d released something long pent-up. Law blinked at him, and looked down at the sandal. It had landed just in front of him after bouncing off the bars. It lay in the moonlight, illuminated clearly.

There was a smear of blood on the shoe from where Mugiwara had touched it.

“You’re bleeding,” Law said quietly, his voice feeling small in the dead air left behind Mugiwara’s shout.

There was a beat of silence.

“Yeah.” Mugiwara’s voice was small, subdued, as though someone had thrown a blanket over it. 

Law swallowed. He tried to make his voice as gentle as possible. “I can try-- I mean, I have a lot of medical knowledge, I was almost done with my exams. I could try to help you with the-- the wound. If you wanted.”

Mugiwara snorted, still facing away from Law. “No fucking way.”

Law sighed softly, leaning forward until his forehead rested on one of the cool iron bars that separated them. He didn’t know why he was trying so hard, if he was honest. Mugiwara clearly didn’t want his help. Maybe he was just wasting his time trying to talk to him. But there was something… Law stole another glance at Mugiwara, who was shaking out his tattered vest, no longer looking at Law. Something about this guy, it was like a magnet. Inexplicable. Raw. Unpredictable.

Law couldn’t stay away.

“I understand why you’re cautious,” Law tried again, gently. “But I promise that I won’t hurt you, Mugiwara.”

“Don’t call me that!” The venom was so unexpected that Law’s head snapped back up in surprise. When he looked at Mugiwara, the young man had a dark expression on his face.

“What should I call you, then?” Law questioned carefully, remembering that he himself had been given a stage name by Doflamingo.

There was a pause, and Mugiwara looked away before looking back.

“Luffy. My name is Luffy.”

Luffy. It started with a soft lilt and tapered out to ride the breath even higher. The way the young man said it made it resemble the sound of blowing on an empty bottle. Law had never heard anything more carefree in his life. He smiled, looking through the bars at the other man.

“Nice to meet you, Luffy. My name is Law.”

Luffy stared at Law, eyes never leaving his face. “Law,” he echoed, as if he were tasting it, seeing how it shaped his mouth. 

Law nodded, smiling. He backed away from the bars a bit, reaching for the bowl of water he’d set down earlier. Luffy’s eyes followed him.

“I know you don’t want my help, but at least take this,” Law said, setting the bowl down next to the bars they shared. “You can use it to wash off.”

Luffy just stared, wordless, watching Law carefully with his large eyes. Law felt those eyes drift down to his bare chest and tried not to self-consciously cross his arms. He remembered the gauze bandages he had saved from when he’d been tossed into this prison, and fetched those as well, setting them next to the bowl of water.

“I know these won’t do much good for the kind of wound you have,” Law said, stepping back and sitting down. “But maybe you can use them as a cloth?”

Luffy nodded, once. He warily moved forward, still fully naked, coming to crouch in front of the water bowl and the bandages. He gingerly reached through the bars to pull the bowl closer to him. It was too wide to fit between the bars, so Luffy brought it as close as it could be before dipping a wad of gauze into it. Law averted his eyes as the young man opened his legs and began scrubbing at the blood coating his naked inner thighs.

“How long has-- how long has this been going on?” Law asked. Luffy ignored him, and the water sloshed as the young man dipped the gauze back into it.

Law accepted his silence, choosing another tack. “I’m worried about your wound.”

“Why?” Luffy’s voice was like a caged lion, all subdued ferocity.

Law was taken aback. “Well, it could get infected and--”

“No.” Luffy paused in what he was doing and looked over at Law waspishly, his eyes keen and sharp. “Why do you care about me?”

The blunt question drilled through Law. “I-- Well, it’s--,” Law started, stammering, before he internally came to the conclusion he was avoiding. “I don’t know.”

Luffy blinked at him, clearly unimpressed.

“Call it intuition,” Law shrugged. At that, Luffy raised an eyebrow.

“You’re a weird guy, Law.”

With those words, it was like the tension had eased its grip on the atmosphere around them. Luffy’s shoulders relaxed, posture becoming more open, and Law felt something lift from his lungs. The air felt a little warmer, the moonlight a little brighter.

“Anyway,” Luffy said lowly, dipping the gauze again. “It will mend. Probably by tomorrow.”

It took Law a few moments to realize that Luffy was talking about his wound. Forgetting any semblance of courtesy, Law gaped openly at the naked man. Luffy paid him no heed, continuing to wash himself off. Law glanced down at the bowl, and saw tendrils of blood unfurl themselves in the water. 

“By tomorrow?! There’s no way it’ll heal by--”

“Happens every other time.” Luffy shrugged. “It’s part of my power.”

Law stared, his mouth ajar. “Power?” 

“Yeah.” Luffy looked up, as if sensing Law’s bewilderment. “What’s your problem?”

“You have a power?” Law asked, still trying to process this new information.

Luffy stared at him. “Yeah. I just told you that. It’s a devil fruit power.”

Before Law could open his mouth to say anything else, Luffy had grabbed one of his own cheeks between two fingers. Then he pulled the skin, and pulled, and it kept going, stretching past the point of a normal human, baring Luffy’s teeth, and Law found himself recoiling backwards at the sight, filled with an instinctive panic at seeing something so unnatural. He almost fell backwards from the intensity of his primal terror.

Luffy let go and his cheek snapped back into place with a _fwap._ He frowned at Law’s reaction. “Hey, don’t stare like that, asshole. It’s rude.”

“You’re stretchy?” Law all but squeaked, frozen.

Luffy ignored him. “What’s your ability?”

“I don’t have one.”

It was Luffy’s turn to be confused. It was like a shroud had been pulled from the young man’s face, his expression open and genuine in his confusion. “What? But Mingo only collects devil fruit users.”

Law shrugged, sitting up fully. “I was picked up by accident. They thought I had a power. But I don’t.”

Luffy had paused in his cleaning to stare at Law, eyes boring holes through Law’s skull. He regarded him for a moment before speaking.

“If you don’t have a power, then how are you still alive?”

Law looked down, closing his eyes. He felt something hard rising from his belly, getting stuck in his throat. When he spoke his voice was husky, gagging on the words before they came out.

“My tattoos. He liked my tattoos.”

His teeth clenched, hands curling up in his lap. The hard lump in his throat felt like it was expanding, blocking off his airway. His breaths were coming fast, carrying hardly any air with them. While he concentrated on struggling to breathe, feeling more and more like he was drowning, he could feel fingers ghosting across his chest, his abdomen. The hands, dozens of dirty hands, touching him, their nails scraping his skin. He was being dragged away by them, dragged down, down, into the dark, damp earth.

Law pried his eyes open, desperate to escape them, the hands in the dark, and jumped back in fright at the sight of a slim hand reaching out to him. It froze, and Law looked up, following the arm over to where Luffy stared at him through the bars. The younger man looked sheepish, and started to pull his hand back.

“Sorry. I just wanted to…” Luffy’s voice was quiet, his accent making the unfinished sentence sound like rustling grass.

Law could feel his heart beating faster as he stared at Luffy, whose hand was still outstretched towards him. Another hand on his skin? Touching him, feeling him? No. No, no.

No--

Law grabbed Luffy’s hand with his own, stopping him just short of pulling it through the bars. Luffy let out a surprised noise. Law drew close to the bars, and brought Luffy’s hand to his chest. Eyes wide, Luffy spread his fingers until his hand was flat against Law’s chest, directly over his rapidly beating heart. Law knew that Luffy could feel the quick rhythm, though the younger man didn’t react to it.

Luffy stared at his hand and where it pressed against Law’s chest. His eyes slowly slid up past Law’s clavicle, up his throat, fixing themselves on Law’s face. Luffy’s eyes were dark, no discernible color in the dim light. There was a question in those eyes, but Law couldn’t interpret it. Luffy said nothing, only looking back down at where he was touching Law.

Luffy’s hand was soft against Law’s skin, its movements tentative. The touch was gentle but still firm, pressing into the skin still slick with castor oil. As Law felt Luffy’s fingers trace over where his tattoos lay, it was like the slim fingers were erasing the unwanted touches, leaving nothing but a clean swath in their path. The skin Luffy touched tingled in the cool air, soothing Law’s rapid heartbeat, slowing it to where Law felt like he could breathe again.

“You’re warm.”

Luffy’s murmur was smooth as sea glass, sliding through the air like a fine dusting of mist. Law hadn’t realized he’d closed his eyes, but he opened them when he heard those words, in time to see the languid awe painted on Luffy’s open, honest face. Those large eyes slid up to his, and Luffy blinked, his face morphing back into a mask of careful watchfulness. He gingerly pulled his hand away from Law, back through the bars. Law didn’t stop him this time.

Luffy gathered his clothing in his arms and stood up, still keeping an eye on Law. He paused for a moment and gave Law a brief, slight bow. 

“Thank you, Law.” His voice was soft, like he was locked in his head instead of focusing on the words. “For the water, and…”

Luffy looked down, and Law followed his gaze to a now dried bloodstain on the cold metal floor where Luffy had been sitting by the bars. As Law looked on, Luffy moved forward slightly, sticking his foot out to rub at the stain, as though to erase it.

It stayed, though.

“Yeah,” Luffy said, looking away. “Goodnight.”

He retreated into the shadows of his cage, footsteps careful.

Left almost dazed, Law could only stare into the shadows Luffy had withdrawn to. The young man’s touch still trembled on Law’s skin, a warmth that spread over his chest.

Quiet words tumbled from Law’s numb lips as a cloud moved over the moon, darkening the iron refuge he shared with the strange man.

“Goodnight, Luffy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! I'm almost on break from classes now, so I'm hoping to write a couple more chapters of this fic during mid to late December. 
> 
> Till then, じゃなあ~


	6. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Law's life in the Menagerie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna end this year with a new chapter of The Menagerie! I'm glad to see that you're all enjoying it so far, and I look forward to continuing it in 2019! Hope you all have had a nice holiday season, and have a Happy New Year!
> 
> A big thank you to my beta reader, Nerdya!
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS:  
> \- implied rape  
> \- implied molestation  
> \- mention of starvation  
> \- mention of castration  
> \- dehumanization

Several weeks went by, and Law was coming to realize that his mind and body were getting used to life inside a cage. He felt himself slowly molding to the patterns that criss-crossed their way through the Menagerie.

It was as if his mind was clinging to the slightest trace of familiarity, of safety. So every evening, when Law was returned to his cage after what felt like hours of hands grabbing at him and Doflamingo taunting him, he would sigh with something akin to relief and rest on his pile of blankets in the dwindling light, counting his finger bones to make the jeering voices go away. Every day. Hands, chains, oil, hands, hands, hands. Cheers.

Despite the squalid conditions of Law’s cell, it was the only part of this place that somehow felt even the slightest bit safe. The only place he could escape the hands, and that crooked smile of Doflamingo’s. Law could be warm in his cage, untouched, free to be with his own thoughts, or to look at the stars through the hole in the roof.

Luffy was there, too. The closest thing Law had to a friend in this place.

The two of them had spoken only a little at first, but Law felt at ease when Luffy was around. There was something in the air when the small man was present, something warm, and strong, and stable, like an unyielding embrace. Law couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hugged.

As for Luffy, he had seemed to warm to Law, at least in comparison to the cold, dead-eyed man Law had met on that first night. As it was, Luffy often watched Law silently from his cage, large eyes shaded by the brim of his straw hat. The silence between them was always comfortable, and when it was broken, the words they shared felt increasingly meaningful. Luffy seemed to have that effect. Every word from his mouth fell with a gravity so earnest it almost made Law’s heart stop.

The strange young man came and went from his cell as Law did, pulled from it by thugs and taken to perform for Doflamingo and a crowd of lascivious strangers. He never wanted to talk when he returned, and Law understood, though he had once unthinkingly asked Luffy what he did during performances. All the young man had done in reply was look at Law miserably and stretch his rubbery cheek, letting it snap back into place with a sense of finality.

Law didn’t ask anything else about it after that.

Nor did he mention when Luffy was escorted from his cell at odd times of day, not returning for hours at a time. When the young man did come back, he often had marks on him, marks made not by fists, but by teeth. They crossed Luffy’s chest like heavy footprints crushing wildflowers.

The marks were always gone by morning.

When Luffy spoke with Law, he seemed to avoid dangerous topics like that, not by skirting around them with mincing words as Law might do, but by darting right along the top of them, like a gull flying over the surface of the ocean, wingtips just barely kissing the swells. Ignoring that black water, yet ever aware of it, Luffy’s words somehow had a playful undercurrent that Law was often drawn into, left wondering how such a thing could still exist in a place this dark.

One evening, only a few days after the late-night assault from Doflamingo, Luffy’s smooth, accented voice drifted lazily over to Law.

“Did it spit in your water or something?”

Luffy’s sudden question shook Law out of his thoughts, and he realized that he had been glowering at the hunk of bread he held in his hand. Law looked over at Luffy, who was laying on the floor wearing his straw hat and propped up on his elbows, chin resting in cupped hands.

The young man raised an eyebrow, crossing his ankles in the air behind him.

Law sighed. He placed the stale roll back onto the floor, brushing the crumbs from his hand.

“I hate bread,” he grumbled, scooting back a bit, away from the roll. “I’m not eating it anymore.”

Luffy snorted softly. “I’ll eat it if you don’t want to. But,” he tapped a finger lightly on the floor, his voice both sly and pointed, “You’ll probably die if you don’t eat.”

Law shook his head. “He uses it to control me, I just know it.”

“You mean the prickles?” The scraping of Luffy’s fingernail against the metal floor had ceased, and when Law turned, the young man’s dark eyes were fixed on him.

“Yeah,” Law said, moving closer to the bars. “The prickling. Has it happened to you too?”

Luffy quickly looked away. “Yeah.”

“And then you can’t move, right?” Law prodded. “And when you move, it’s--somehow--not you. Right?”

“It’s not the bread.” Luffy had turned back to Law, gaze so intense that Law’s breath caught in his throat.

“What do you mean?” Law demanded, gripping the bars between them. “It has to be the bread! It’s gotta be drugged!”

“It’s not!” Luffy sat up, crossing his legs beneath him. He looked down at the ground, the tilt of his hat making it impossible for Law to see his expression. Luffy’s hands were pressed to the metal floor in front of him, and Law saw the fingers tighten. “It’s not that. It can’t be that. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Why?” Law’s voice came out harshly, tinged with anger at his feeble theory being shaken.

“Because I tried to starve myself.” Luffy looked up at Law as he spoke, expression unreadable, hurt distant but visible in his eyes. His hands clenched where they sat on the ground. “And the prickles made me eat anyway.”

Law felt his jaw drop, his hand releasing the bar it had been locked around. The sound of voices wafted down the hallway as Law gaped at Luffy. 

“God, Luffy, I’m sorry--I--” Law tripped over his words, not sure how to take back the distrust he’d shown Luffy.

“‘S’fine,” Luffy shrugged and rose to his feet. The voices were coming nearer. “It was a long time ago.”

Law watched as Luffy put his hat carefully on his bed before going to stand next to the door. He gave Law a small smile, a quirk of the lips as the men arrived for him and unlocked the door, marching him away.

He came back with more bite marks. Law ate the bread.

The day after that, Law had found himself pulled back to Giolla’s room after a performance. The sensation of unwanted fingers pressing into his flesh still crept over him -- he had gotten better at avoiding those questing hands, but still stumbled now and then, falling into them. In those moments, it was as though Law had been pushed, his prickling skin a taunting reminder of how little control he had. Caught up in the fresh memories, he was hauled to Giolla’s room and hung by his wrists in a daze.

“You might want to stick around, Bellamy.” The shrill edge of Giolla’s voice shook Law back to reality, and he started as the stout woman pressed a cold, damp cloth to his chest.

He was quickly and roughly wiped down by Giolla, who periodically dipped her cloth into a bucket of water to wet it. She stopped part way to strip Law’s pants off of him, cleaning his genitals too. Remembering the incident with the scissors, Law held still, internally revolted by her hands on him. The water was cold against Law’s skin, and when he shivered, droplets flew from his body.

Giolla gave him a few cursory wipes with a dry cloth before motioning to Bellamy, who stood near the crank suspending Law. Law was slowly lowered to the ground, and he knelt in relief, taking the pressure off of his sore toes. He stilled, expecting to be released as usual and taken back to his cell.

But Law’s wrists were not lowered all the way, still held taut above his head. He looked up, puzzled, and was suddenly seized by Bellamy.

“Wha--” Law yelped as the big blonde man wrapped his arms around him, curving them under Law’s armpits and locking his hands behind Law’s head painfully. “Ow, what the--”

Giolla stepped closer as Law struggled in Bellamy’s hold. “Calm down, dearie,” she shushed, as though quieting a flighty animal. “Move too much and you’ll hurt yourself.”

Law froze at the sight of a straight razorblade in her hand. An instinctual terror filled every mote of his being at the sight of the sharp instrument, suddenly becoming very aware of his nudity. His thoughts snapped back to her threat to castrate him. Letting out a strangled sound of panic, Law’s struggles increased tenfold, bucking against Bellamy fruitlessly.

Giolla tutted as she set the razor down, picking up what appeared to be a bar of soap. She lathered it up in her hands with water from the bucket, but when she moved to touch Law’s face he yelled and flinched away. The razor was still on the table, but suddenly just the sensation of being touched was too much for Law to bear. It was all sharp.

“Bellamy.” Giolla’s voice had taken on a hard edge.

Bellamy’s vice-like grip clamped down even harder on Law’s head, and Law yelled in pain, his struggles halted by the tight grip. He could swear the bones in his shoulders were creaking under the pressure. Law panted through his nose, his teeth gritted as Giolla neared once again.

“Such a fuss,” the woman tutted, her voice back to its saccharine, honeyed tone. “This won’t take a minute.”

Law was held still as Giolla covered his lower jaw was soap suds. He tried to fight when she began shaving him, cold metal against his skin, but Bellamy held him fast. The stubble he had grown over the short time he’d been captured was cut away, scraped off by the tempered straight blade. Another part of him stripped away, lost from his control.

Giolla paused when she reached the thicker patch of hair on Law’s chin, the beard he’d had before being captured. She stepped back and eyed him keenly, before shaving around his existing facial hair and sideburns.

Law held still, trying to think about things other than what he was experiencing. The further he drifted from the situation at hand, the more he realized that he kept returning to the same place in his mind. The cages. The stars seen through the hole in the roof.

Luffy.

Law was returned to the cages somehow feeling a little more naked than before, though his pants had been put back on him. No sooner had he sat down on his bed than Luffy squinted at him from where he lounged in his own cage.

“You look different.”

When Law told him about what had happened, Luffy let out a sound of understanding.

“Ah! A bath,” Luffy nodded his head as if agreeing with himself. The stretchy man cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, looking displeased. “That must mean I’m getting one later.”

“Bath?” Law questioned, rubbing at his damp hair. After shaving him, they’d dumped the rest of the cold water over his head to rinse. “That wasn’t what I’d call a bath.”

Luffy gave a sharp snort. “I dunno what you were expecting, but that’s all we get in this shithole. ‘Least when it’s cold outside.” He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. A pensive expression came over his face. “It’s getting warmer though, so we’ll probably get outside baths soon.”

“Hmm.” Law rubbed at his freshly shaven skin, not really listening. It was rough to the touch, catching on his fingertips. At least she’d left his beard from before his capture. He’d half-expected that to be taken from him, too.

There was an unhappy sound from the other cage, and when Law looked back over, he saw that Luffy was pouting. “What’s your problem?”

The stretchy man looked annoyed, and he slid down the bars like he was melting. “I hate baths,” he said miserably. “I don’t want one.”

Law risked a jab. “Why? You like being stinky?”

Luffy shrugged, unbothered by Law’s comment. “I don’t like being all wet. Feels gross.”

Sure enough, when Luffy returned to the cage after his performance that night, his hair was wet and he looked very pissed off. Law wisely said nothing as the young man shook his hair like a dog would, combing through the coarse locks with his fingers and furiously wiping wet hands on his tattered shorts, as though the sensation of water was the most offensive thing in the world.

\---

The days went by with a sickly sort of monotony. Every few days Law was taken to Giolla and shaved. It never stopped being terrifying, and Law often thought of the scrape of the razor against his skin as he lay beneath the hole in the tent’s roof, staring at the stars while Luffy slept.

As the season grew warmer, the hole in the roof became a problem.

It rained one night, hard enough to shake the tent around them. The tarp that would have otherwise protected Luffy and Law from the elements was long gone thanks to that clown. Not that it could have done much against the downpour that night.

Law awoke to the cracking of thunder and the sound of furious dripping, like someone pouring a bucket of water through a grate. It was dark, but a flash of lightning illuminated the walls of the tent and the torrent of rain that was all but gushing through the hole in the roof. Law scrambled to the back of the cage, pulling his blankets with him. One end of them was drenched, but most of the fabric was dry, luckily.

Lightning flashed again, and Law could see Luffy in the other cage. The young man was huddled in the corner of the cage furthest from the leak, visibly trembling. He was drenched, and when Law looked to Luffy’s blankets, he saw that they’d been completely soaked through by the rain splashing onto them. Thunder boomed, and Law saw Luffy flinch back against the bars, eyes wide and fixed on the water pouring into his cell. His clothing was dripping, and he had set his straw hat on what appeared to be the driest patch of ground in his cell.

He looked utterly miserable.

_I hate baths._

Law blinked, remembering the look on Luffy’s face after he’d been bathed. Luffy’s expression now held none of that annoyance, only terror, his eyes wide as dinner plates in the flashes of lightning. Law quickly moved with his blankets to where the cages met, on the front side where the doors were. The splashes from the rain only just kissed that area, so Law sat down next to the bars, blankets draped over him.

“Luffy!” Law called to his cellmate, yelling over the storm.

Lightning struck and Law could see Luffy looking over. Law beckoned to him. The young man stared Law, who was so close to the bars, and hesitated for a moment. As he did, a clap of thunder shook the air around them. In an instant, Luffy bolted to the bars, squishing against them as though trying to get as close to Law as possible.

Law was surprised by the closeness, but quickly passed half of the blanket through the bars, so they were sharing it. Luffy wrapped himself in it, leaning close to Law and the bars, his hair dripping onto the blankets, droplets rolling over the wool before sinking in. It quickly grew warmer beneath the blanket, but Law could feel Luffy shivering. 

Wet clothes clung to the young man’s skin, no doubt leaching the warmth from his body. Luffy seemed to come to the same conclusion, and, to Law’s shock, stood up and began shedding his cold, wet clothes. When he sat down again and wrapped the blanket back around him, instead of shying from Law as he’d expected, Luffy returned to pressing between the bars, his bare skin warming against Law’s through the gaps.

Law’s heart beat a little faster, and he tamped down the tide of thoughts that came with the realization, too tired to care why it hardly felt like the metal bars were there at all.

As the rain wore on, Luffy’s shivering soon subsided, and he leaned his head against Law’s shoulder through the bars. Law stayed very still, and when the rain quieted, finally abating, he heard soft snores emanating from Luffy. He’d never heard him snore before.

Law was just nodding off himself when Luffy shifted in his sleep, and Law jolted as a cold shock rippled through his arm, fanning out into the rest of his body like frost on a window pane. Law jerked away from Luffy and the bars, disturbing the blanket and jostling the younger man. Luffy didn’t stir, just slumping against the bars as he slept. Now out from under the blanket, Law stared at him. What had--?

The moon had come out now that the rain had dissipated, and in its light, Law saw that one of Luffy’s hands had slipped off of his lap and lay on the floor on Law’s side of the bars. Reaching forward, he carefully lifted the blanket, seeing if there was anything else under there that could have brushed him. The bars maybe? But when he touched them, they weren’t that cold.

That feeling had been colder than anything Law had ever felt.

Law’s eye caught on something metallic in the moonlight. The metal bracelet Luffy wore. It glistened on his limp wrist, the moonlight making it appear even more blue than usual.

Moving forward with a mix of curiosity and suspicion, Law reached out to touch the manacle. Was it--?

Before Law could touch the smooth metal, Luffy shifted again, pulling his hand back. He frowned in his sleep, muttering.

“Shut up,” Luffy mumbled, smacking his lips. This was followed by something in another language and then, “Stupid Ace…”

Law watched the young man for a long moment before moving back to the blankets. As he pulled the blanket around them, Luffy’s head returned to his shoulder, the young man mumbling inaudibly. Leaning back, Law stared at the puddle of water on the floor. It reflected the moon, framed by the hole in the tent’s roof. The name burned in Law’s mind, floating just beyond his reach even when he closed his eyes to try and sleep.

Ace.

\---

Law’s doze was broken when he felt Luffy jerking away from him, pulling the blanket off one of Law’s shoulders. The dawn was coming, lightening the tent walls in smooth increments. The puddle on the floor had shrunk considerably, the hole in the tent’s ceiling having long since stopped dripping.

Luffy had darted out from under the blanket, and when Law turned his head, he saw the young man reaching for his hat. Law watched as Luffy shoved the hat onto his head, adjusting the brim. The way he touched the woven straw was like someone checking a loved one for wounds.

“Stupid,” Luffy muttered to himself, reaching around to gather his clothing. “Stupid storm, goddamn, fucking-- ugh,” he groaned at the feeling of the wet fabric as he wrung out his shirt. It dripped onto the floor in front of him and Luffy regarded the small puddle with disdain.

Law chuckled, and pulled the blanket off of himself. Pushing it through the bars, he said, “Here. Take this.”

Luffy regarded Law for a moment before casting his eyes to his own blankets, which lay soaking on the floor, in a puddle of their own. He looked down at the wet shirt in his hands, dropping it unceremoniously and rising to his feet silently, padding over to accept the proffered blanket. He draped the blanket around himself like a cloak, covering his head and hat partially.

Law wrapped himself in one of his other blankets and slowly drifted back to sleep. When he awoke, Luffy was gone from his cage, and Law’s blanket lay on the floor beside the bars. It was stacked in what seemed to have been an messy attempt to fold it.

Law smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one is halfway written, and the fic seems to have expanded once again :') See ya next time!
> 
> じゃなあ~


	7. Marked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doflamingo takes an interest in Law.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty here's a new chapter, hope you like it! Sorry the delay was longer, I've been quite busy with school.
> 
> You all should thank my beta Nerdya, 'cause the ending would be trash if not for them.
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS:  
> \- non-consensual kissing and touching  
> \- manhandling  
> \- anger issues  
> \- threatened rape/non-con  
> \- panic

Pinpricks ran up and down Law’s arms and legs, tickling the skin as he was paraded around Doflamingo’s fiery stage. Every night, he went under that strange spell that stole all control from him. It was so easy to let go and allow it to take him where it would, and though every fiber of Law’s being revolted against the notion, he often found himself giving in to the feeling of needles kissing the tops of his arms, the backs of his hands, his fingers.

At first, Law had fought, pulling back against the direction his body was compelled to move. He’d quickly figured out that doing so was not only exhausting, but painful. When he pulled against the prickling, it was as if it was tearing him, his skin rending like cloth. He’d screamed, but the crowd had only laughed, and Doflamingo’s grin had only widened.

Law kept his resistance to a minimum after that, trying instead to remove himself from the body that was no longer his. He tried to think of home, but thoughts of Flevance only made him feel woozy and sick, like poison was seeping into his veins. Besides, sometimes they slipped into his thoughts then.

Thinking of Dressrosa, of his studies and his lonely apartment, only made Law feel like he was in a perpetual state of falling over, simultaneously pulled down while floating away. The Menagerie hadn’t moved, which meant the walls of Dressrosa were probably only hundreds of yards from where Law moved gracefully across the stage. If he could get out, he could run back to town, get help, be free again…

He often imagined what would happen if he bowled over Bellamy and the others while they were transporting him. He would run to the tent’s wall, rip through it. That’s where his fantasies ended, because all he could see through the gap he’d torn was darkness. It was as if the Menagerie existed in a void. There was nothing beyond it.

Law knew this couldn’t be true, knew this leering audience before him had to have come from somewhere, but it was so hard to remember that when all he could see was the inside of these endless, overlapping tents. The stars were Law’s only tether to the reality beyond these sickeningly striped walls. He watched them every night, tracking their movement as time wore on.

He’d lost count of the exact number of days, but according to his memory, Law had been shaved by Giolla about eight times since being captured. She did it every three days or so, which meant Law had been in this sick circus for almost a month.

He came to a stop at the edge of the fiery ring around the stage and posed, trying not to sigh. He’d definitely missed his final exams.

Law was torn from his thoughts as his body spun suddenly, and he felt himself pulled by a strong hand. He found himself in Doflamingo’s arms, held close enough to the man that his lower half was pressed against the ringmaster’s. He could feel the odd coolness of the man’s skin.

Face to face with the huge man, Law stared up into the large, pink glasses obscuring Doflamingo’s face. He could see his reflection in the lenses. A hybrid of fear and confusion was dusted upon his features, and the shadows under his eyes had gotten darker.

Before Law could do more than blink, Doflamingo’s face split open in a grin, and he seized the back of Law’s head, fingers tangling in his unkempt hair.

Then Doflamingo’s mouth was on his, devouring him.

Law’s eyes shot open even wider, lips parting in a surprised cry that was stifled by the ringmaster’s mouth. To his horror, he felt a long tongue snaking its way inside. Before he could bite it, Doflamingo shifted the hand gripping Law’s hair, jamming his thumb into Law’s mouth alongside his tongue, making it impossible for him to bite down. He tried anyway, grating his teeth against the flesh of Doflamingo’s thumb, but Doflamingo bit his lip viciously in retaliation, flooding Law’s mouth with blood and pain.

Blinking tears of pain from his eyes, all Law could do was stand there and take it, whimpered moans issuing from his nose as he felt Doflamingo ravish his mouth. Law felt his own hands reaching up, still out of his control, his arms winding loosely around Doflamingo’s neck like a lover’s would, caressing the short, blonde hair at the nape of the bigger man’s neck.

It was prickly under Law’s fingers.

Doflamingo finally withdrew, leaving Law panting from the long kiss. Law’s blood shone dark on the man’s lips, glistening in the firelight. People in the crowd were whistling, and Doflamingo chuckled darkly, leaning in to mutter to Law.

“Paying attention now, Corazon?” 

Law glared up at him, lips curved in a snarl. “Fuck you,” he spat, feeling blood drip down his chin from his bitten lip.

Unswayed by Law’s anger, the ringmaster merely laughed, eyes flashing. “If you insist,” he purred, petting Law’s cheek gently.

Without warning, Law was violently thrown to the ground, yelling out in pain at the impact. As he looked up, the crowd whooped in unison and Doflamingo filled Law’s vision as he knelt over him. A jolt of terror shot through Law at the predatory look on Doflamingo’s face, and he tried to scramble out from underneath the man, his body suddenly once again under his control.

Doflamingo grabbed Law’s wrists easily, pinning them down on either side of Law’s head. Law struggled weakly under the man’s grip, his wrist bones and tendons rubbing against each other under the pressure. The ringmaster ruthlessly kicked Law’s legs open and wedged a knee between his thighs, hemming the smaller man in.

Staring up at his own terrified expression in Doflamingo’s glasses, Law trembled as the cheers got louder. No matter how much he wiggled his hips and kicked his legs, he was pinned beneath the larger man’s weight. Finally Law’s body was under his own control, and here he was. Powerless against Doflamingo’s monstrous strength. 

Doflamingo’s body also trembled, but with rumbling laughter as he saw the look on Law’s face. As the man leaned down, Law flinched to the side, breathing raggedly in fear. The taste of blood was still in his mouth, coating his back teeth with a metallic sheen. He could feel its wetness on his chin and in his beard.

Licking his lips, Doflamingo breathed in Law’s ear, a hint of amusement chasing his words.

“I could fuck you right here, right now, in front of all these people. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Law’s breath caught in his throat, like he was choking on air. His thoughts flashed back to that night in the cell, to what he had seen this man do to Luffy. Blood. Screams. A whimper trickled from his nose and Doflamingo ground his knee against Law’s crotch.

“Oh, it’d be so fun,” Doflamingo crooned. He leaned down despite Law shying away, brushing a soft kiss to Law’s cheek. “But don’t worry, my little Corazon. I won’t do it.”

Heedless of the words, Law continued shaking beneath the giant man. Doflamingo was a snake, a feathered snake, and Law couldn’t trust him, had to brace for the worst. It had to be coming. The crowd was cheering. 

He felt Doflamingo’s tongue touch his quivering neck.

“No, I want to _savor_ you.”

With those words, Doflamingo viciously bit into the juncture between Law’s neck and shoulder. Law’s eyes shot open and he yelled in pain, body arching beneath Doflamingo’s, writhing against the ringmaster’s hold. Doflamingo was sucking on his flesh, marking him, and the crowd’s cheers combined with the flames dancing around the stage were making Law nauseous. He could feel the skin beneath Doflamingo’s teeth straining, bruising, tearing. His vision swam from the pain and the heat, and he remembered Luffy returning to the cages, littered in bite marks.

Law’s eyes welled up with tears, and he closed them.

\---

Law couldn’t get his feet to work, and when he was toss back into his cage, they were raw from being dragged across the burlap floors. He hit the ground heavily, hearing the impact but not feeling it. There was a kind of numbness that hovered around him, floating through his ears and dulling his senses like a dense fog. Dimly, he heard the men leave and Luffy calling to him, quiet words getting louder, and when he lifted his head he saw his cagemate gripping the bars separating them like he wanted to wrench them apart. It took a moment for Law’s ears to uncloud, letting Luffy’s words in.

“Law! Oi! Are you okay?! Law! You’re bleeding!” The rubbery man’s voice had acquired an urgency that Law hadn’t heard before, a deep edge to it, like it was rumbling through his chest.

Law blinked slowly, a couple of times. He realized his mouth was open and he was taking such deep breaths that they stuttered for a moment after each exhale, stumbling over the air of the cell. Struggling to find a place in the rhythm to form words, Law sat up carefully, drawing his legs together. As he moved, Law saw Luffy’s eyes widen, moving from the dried blood beneath Law’s cut lip and locking onto the side of his neck. Law looked away, gaze drifting over to the ground outside the cages. His hand moved subconsciously to cover where there must be a mark, etched into the thin skin of his neck.

“Mingo did this.” Luffy’s voice trembled with anger.

Law wet his lips, making his cut sting. When he managed to speak, his own voice was low and crackly. “Yeah. He did.”

There was the sound of an impact, and Law looked back to Luffy in time to see the younger man punch the bars again. The look in his eyes was terrifying, all smoldering rage. Luffy’s teeth were bared like those of an aggressive animal, a snarl gathering behind them.

“Fuck!” Luffy’s yell ricocheted off every bar in their cages, converging in the center in one sharp note of anger.

Law stared at the young man, who fell still after his outburst. Luffy sat back on his feet and stared at the ground between them, where the bars met the floor of the cage. There was a tension crackling through the air of the cage, and Law was almost afraid to move for fear of disturbing it.

When Luffy spoke again, his words were quiet, almost dejected, and weighty with dark meaning.

“Did he...?”

Law’s fingers curled into his palm, looking down. “No,” he murmured.

There was a soft noise from Luffy, a sound of acceptance and relief.

Silence.

“I’m scared, Luffy,” Law whispered, his voice snagging on the words. When he looked up, he found Luffy looking at him with a soft expression on his face. 

Luffy breathed a deep sigh, and beckoned to Law. Law hesitated a moment, still feeling the slip of unwelcome fingers on his skin. Then he remembered the warm press of Luffy through the bars that rainy night, and moved over to where the other man sat.

When he settled before Luffy, the younger man reached slowly through the bars, his fingers gently brushing the side of Law’s neck. Luffy’s touch was soft, but his face darkened when he looked at Law’s skin up close.

“That bad, huh?” Law asked, tone lilting up in an attempt to lift the clouds from Luffy’s face. They didn’t suit him.

“Yeah. Pretty fucking bad.” Luffy didn’t look at Law’s face as he pulled his hand away, his eyes locked on the mark. “All purple and black. That fucker.”

Law breathed in deep through his nose, letting it out slowly. “What if he--?”

“He won’t,” Luffy cut him off, eyes shifting to Law’s face. “Don’t worry.”

Law’s mouth slipped open in incredulity. There was something so raw in Luffy’s face, in his voice, that Law found it utterly impossible to find any words to argue with him.

A strange sort of power.

“Mugiwara!” A voice from outside Luffy’s cell interrupted before Law could say anything. There were three men standing outside the door, having approached while Luffy and Law were talking. “You’re up!”

“I’m busy!” Luffy snapped at them, not even turning around all the way. He looked back at Law, as though his eyes were searching his face. His gaze shifted meaningfully to the mark on Law’s neck.

“I’ll be okay,” Law said quietly.

Luffy frowned at him, but obeyed the unsaid request. He stood and left with the men, leaving Law alone.

Law stared at the empty ground before him, through the bars. He reached out a hand and put it on that place, where Luffy had been. His mind was going so fast it was making him dizzy. Luffy’s intensity aside, the more Law thought about the impending night, the more it felt like his chest was being strapped tight, squeezing the breath from his lungs.

Doflamingo would certainly come for him. Of that there was no doubt. The only question was when, and it crept up Law’s spine, chilling each vertebrae as it passed.

It was only a matter of time.

\---

When Luffy returned to the cage, Law pretended to be asleep, his back and shoulders hunched protectively around the feelings Law knew his face would betray if the rubber man saw. Words would only make Law think harder, as if it weren’t hard enough to try and bury visions of Doflamingo’s feathers beneath scrunched eyelids. His neck throbbed where it had been marked.

There was a long silence, and Law could feel Luffy’s dark eyes on him. Law made a show of stirring and pulling the blanket closer around himself as though moving in his sleep. He heard Luffy move softly across the cage and to his own bed. There came the sound of the blanket rustling.

He knew Luffy wasn't fooled, but lay still anyway, staring into the darkness of his own eyelids. Doflamingo’s face materialized, floating above him, smile all malice and teeth. He again heard the whispered words, creeping into his ears like tendrils of poisonous vapor.

_“I want to savor you.”_

There were no snores from Luffy, and Law wondered if the other man was also awake.

\---

It was with weary eyes that Law regarded his meager breakfast the following morning. Was the bread usually this crumbly or was it just his swimming vision? Law had managed to steal a couple hours of sleep which, while dreamless, had been tinged with a vignette of fear and paranoia too strong to ignore. It had leaked into every particle of Law’s being, weighing his limbs down and tightening his chest.

Luffy was watching him, as he had a habit of doing. Law could feel himself being examined with an intensity that wasn’t usually there. The younger man’s gaze had rarely made Law feel uncomfortable, but now it felt too heavy on top of everything else, so Law’s eyes snapped up to meet Luffy’s.

“Stop.” Annoyance crept into Law’s voice. “Stop staring at me.”

Luffy blinked at him and looked to Law’s hands instead, lingering meaningfully on Law’s throat on the way down.

Law huffed an irritated sigh. “Did you sleep at all? Or did you just watch me all night?”

“You didn’t sleep either,” Luffy said defensively, skipping ahead in the conversation.

“I slept a little,” Law bit back, shifting so his shoulder was pointing in Luffy’s direction. It bared the mark Doflamingo had left on him, and Law could feel the rubber man’s eyes lock back onto it. His gaze was as steady as a firm hand, slowly exerting more and more pressure on the bruise. Law twitched as it started to hurt, lifting a hand to cover the mark.

“You did watch me last night, didn’t you?” Law said, not looking at Luffy. It was more of a statement than a question. 

“Of course.” The answer was immediate and steadfast. The earnestness in Luffy’s tone startled Law, and he looked over at the younger man. Shaded by the straw hat, Luffy’s expression was unreadable, but possessed an aura of something matter-of-fact.

The two silently watched each other for several moments before they were interrupted by the harsh sound of metal rapping against the bars. When Law turned, startled, he saw a tall, burly man standing outside the cages, flanked by several others.

“On your feet,” the burly man ordered, voice deep and imperious. Law had seen the man before, in passing, at a distance. His skin was dark, the vest he wore doing nothing to hide his impressively muscular build. He head was shaven, his chest decorated with a large tattoo, broad black strokes over muscle that could have been cast in steel. “Both of you.”

Luffy huffed but rose to his feet. Law followed suit cautiously. The muscular man looked dispassionately at Law, betraying no emotion.

“Strip.”

Law’s eyes widened and he took an involuntary step backwards. He heard Luffy huff again through his nose.

The man outside the cage narrowed his eyes at Law.

“I said, strip.”

Law shrank away further, daring to speak. “No.”

The man was going to take him to Doflamingo. There was no other explanation, and Law’s sleep-deprived body struggled to cooperate with itself. The burly man began to unlock the cage door, and Law’s adrenaline spiked painfully, rattling down his limbs. There was no way he could let this man drag him out of here and to Doflamingo.

No, no, nonono--

“NO!” Law yelled wildly, stumbling backwards into the bars behind him. “No! Don’t touch me!”

Two of the other men pushed through the door once it was unlocked, stalking into Law’s cage like a pair of wolves. They flanked him, and when Law lashed out, his ragged fingernails slashed across the skin of the man on his left. As his attacker reeled away, hissing in pain, the other man seized Law, pinning him face first to the bars. Law felt the man grapple his thrashing arms, and a choked sob rose from his chest at the sensation of the man so close to him, pressing into his back. His hands on him.

Law could dimly hear Luffy shouting in the cage next door, the bars clanging. His voice was all anger and indignation.

“Hey! Let him go! TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF HIM, YOU FUCKERS!”

Law was pulled away from the bars, held against the man who had pinned him, arms behind his back. The other man had blood dripping from the scratches Law had given his neck and arm, and he looked furious. As the bloodied man reached for the waistband of Law’s pants, Law kicked at him reflexively. The man dodged the kick and moved to strike Law, pulling a hand back. Law braced himself for the blow.

It never came.

“MEN!” A booming voice erupted and washed through the cell. The two men froze and looked over at the burly man outside the cages. His eyebrows were furrowed, arms crossed. “We’re on a schedule!” he barked, power in every syllable. “Stop fucking around!”

The man’s grip weakened around Law’s arms and he managed to twist free, falling to the hard metal floor. He was immediately pressed down by a heavy boot in the small of his back, the breath knocked from him. He could hardly see through the fear that clouded his every sense. The man outside the cage seemed to be miles away, shrouded in roiling mist that stopped up Law’s ears, eyes, mouth--

Suddenly, Luffy’s voice cut through the fog.

“Law. It’s okay.”

Law wrenched his eyes away from the man outside the cage. Luffy was close to the bars separating them, standing naked. His clothes lay discarded by the door in a heap.

“It’s okay,” Luffy repeated, voice steady. “It’s just for a bath.” He turned his attention to the man outside the cage, venom trickling into his voice. “Can you call off your dogs now?! He’ll do it, okay?”

Law could sense the men standing over him bristle, but their boss waved them back and they exited the cage, leaving Law laying on the floor. He heard Luffy’s voice and looked back at him, trying idly to refocus his eyes. The younger man’s words came to him, muffled through the sound of his own blood pumping through his ears.

“--’s just for a bath, Law. They’re not gonna-- don’t worry, it’s just for a bath. We’re gonna go outside! Isn’t that exciting!” Luffy’s energy was unconvincing, but Law sensed an urgency beneath it. 

Even so, Law didn’t stir, staring at Luffy and breathing raggedly.

When the rubber man continued, his words were strained. “You just gotta take your pants off. Just for a little while. We won’t be gone too long and then you can put them back on! Come on, Law! Let’s go!”

Law warily rose to his feet, keeping his eyes on Luffy. He tried to ignore the presence of the other men as he stripped his pants off, leaving them on the floor.

As they exited the cages, the men went to take the prisoners by the arm. Law flinched away but to his surprise, the large man stopped the others with a wave of his hand. Luffy pushed past the bigger man and stood next to Law for the first time, a whole head shorter than the older man. He puffed up his chest and glowered at the burly man, taller than both of the captives.

“Don’t fucking touch him, Bones,” Luffy hissed at the man, standing between him and Law. “Got it?”

The burly man didn’t say anything, but when the other men turned to walk down the hall, Law saw him give an almost imperceptible nod. Luffy narrowed his eyes at the man, before steering Law away.

Despite Luffy’s stature and youth, the rubber man exuded strength and power like warmth. Law felt himself calm as Luffy walked beside him. It was like having an arm draped over his shoulders, reassuring and protective. As they walked, the back of Luffy’s hand brushed Law’s fingers and he looked over, startled.

Luffy was giving him a soft smile. From it emanated that same strength, and Law felt the last of the tremors in his muscles fall away, left behind as they walked through the winding passages of The Menagerie, surrounded by their captors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you next time!
> 
> じゃなあ~


	8. this is not a chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this isn't a chapter

This is not a chapter. I'm sorry. T.T It is an update, and will be deleted as soon as I actually post Chapter 8. 

Basically I wanted to let you guys know that chap 8 should be finished within the next three weeks, and I haven't been able to get to it yet because I'm working on wrapping up my degree. :') But! never fear, it's in the works, and I think about it every day. <3 

Another reason I figured I'd post this is bc I've made a tumblr! So now feel free to come hang out and ask me stuff and get updates in a way that isn't so fucking cumbersome as making a false chapter in the middle of my goddamn fic. 

anyway the tumblr I made is kavi-the-honest.tumblr.com, come and visit~

and again, sorry about the false alarm with the chapter update T.T I promise next chapter is real fuckin good if that makes it any better

Have a nice day everyone! 

じゃなあ～


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